Cartoon 504: Riddle (Revised)

In the movie, “Batman Forever”, one of the central characters was the “Riddler”. The Riddler was a villain that gave his victims a riddle before he would strike. The answer to the riddle would either lead to their freedom or become their epitaph.

I was thinking about auto insurance when I originally did this cartoon. It seems the premise is still valid. In the news were people disgruntle with the fact that if you filed a claim, the rates would go up or you would be canceled. The goal of the insurance companies was to have you keep paying premiums and to not file even legitimate claims out of fear. The insurance companies are racketeers operating as investor cash machines.

Over the last several years the premiums on health insurance has risen (as well as “co-pays” if applicable). At the same time the extent of coverage has been reducing.

In a more perfect world, the big insurance companies would never have been allowed to get away with their scams. The Federal and State regulators would make certain the industry gives value and honors their implied commitments. Credit reports would not be allowed as a vehicle for determining coverage or rates. Conditions such as “mole” in the home would not be allowed to be grounds for arbitrarily discontinuing coverage. Legitimate claims would never be grounds for cancellation. It is again part of the class war.

The answer in America is to force insurance companies to go back to being mutual companies, wholly owned and controlled by policy holders. The investors single minded profit motive needs to be taken out of the picture.