Mefi Mutual

February 3, 2012 10:49 AM

...and I got health insurance through MeFi.

: so who's up for setting up some kind of fraternal group policy?

posted by leotrotsky to Feature Requests at 10:49 AM (47 comments total)

Only if I can be on the MetaDeathPanel.
posted by swift at 10:54 AM on February 3, 2012 [10 favorites]

Have you not read all the health related ask.mes? The premiums would be through the roof!
posted by Grither at 10:54 AM on February 3, 2012 [7 favorites]

cortex will be giving the prostate exams.
posted by cjorgensen at 10:55 AM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'd help underwrite it, but I know how you people have tendency to eat shit that's been left out for too long.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:59 AM on February 3, 2012 [28 favorites]

Man, I've repressed most of my memories of my old dayjob at the insurance company, but I have dim recollections of the relative difficulty of making small-scale fraternal insurance organizations work, both logistically as lasting entities (you tend to have trouble with replacement of members over the long haul, with a core membership of insured who age over time as a group thus increasing costs) and in some cases regulatory-wise out of the gate (since there's a lot of potential for what the industry and/or its regulators see as fraud in small ad hoc group insurance situations).
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:59 AM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

I'm a US Mefite. If I have an issue at night, would I have to go see a doctor in Greece?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:05 AM on February 3, 2012 [18 favorites]

even fresh shit isn't that great for you
posted by DU at 11:24 AM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I know how you people have tendency to eat shit that's been left out for too long.

Really, I think spoilage is the least of your problems there.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:24 AM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

Dammit.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:24 AM on February 3, 2012

...there's a lot of potential for what the industry and/or its regulators see as fraud in small ad hoc group insurance situations

That's what's great about tontines. They turn boring old life insurance into the world's most dangerous game.
posted by DU at 11:25 AM on February 3, 2012 [10 favorites]

Socialist!

posted by leotrotsky

wait...
posted by desjardins at 11:26 AM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

I legally have to have health insurance as a requirement of my work permit thingy, but man, health insurance here sucks. They all have a two year stand down period for covering pre-existing conditions, which means that basically nothing I do is covered, and my employment contract is only for two years anyway. So I have the absolute cheapest policy I could find which covers basically nothing even without pre-existing conditions (fortunately I also have accident insurance through my job), and then the immigration people didn't even ask to see it (they asked my brown co-worker but not my white one, whatever that means). It burns me just a little every month when they take the not-insignificant chunk of money from me just so I can fulfil some minor legal requirement that no-one even checked up on.

Not that this is relevant. But this post didn't seem to have much point to me anyway and I've been wanting to complain about this to someone!
posted by shelleycat at 11:27 AM on February 3, 2012 [3 favorites]

What we really need is some kind of shadowy fraternal organization with lots of rites and rituals.
posted by The Whelk at 11:38 AM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

There is no shadowy fraternal organization with lots of rites and rituals.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:40 AM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

*crosses hands over chest, blinks*
posted by The Whelk at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2012

A similar idea came up in 2007.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:48 AM on February 3, 2012

I have insurance 'cause I live in Massachusetts!
posted by languagehat at 12:07 PM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

*Makes "the Sign" at The Whelk*
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:14 PM on February 3, 2012

I'm not gonna say I'm not street, but I started singing an Ace of Base song in my head when I read that.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:36 PM on February 3, 2012 [10 favorites]

Let us ....open up your eyes.
posted by The Whelk at 12:37 PM on February 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

...is this a Shadowy Fraternal Organization or an Army of Lovers video?
posted by griphus at 12:45 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I have dim recollections of the relative difficulty of making small-scale fraternal insurance organizations work

You guys just need a bigger pool. Imagine the discounts 350 million could get!
posted by bonehead at 12:50 PM on February 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

I have insurance 'cause I live in Massachusetts!

Yeah and after the debacle with the now-ex I just got state insurance because I live in Vermont. Which is what I used when I was still part-time at MeFi. It's really weird having insurance through a job. This is basically the first time I've had that [I had state insurance in Washington when I lived there] except for the short-lived library job and that was only because there was a strong union there.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:21 PM on February 3, 2012

There's not a strong mod union?
posted by aubilenon at 1:32 PM on February 3, 2012

X 2: MODS UNITED
posted by The Whelk at 1:39 PM on February 3, 2012

Only a matter of time until all this turns into a nasty fight over obesity.
posted by hermitosis at 2:08 PM on February 3, 2012

I don't why, it's a proven fact that it's impossible to lose weight.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:13 PM on February 3, 2012

I think cortex lost a few pounds recently.
posted by desjardins at 2:27 PM on February 3, 2012

Oh good lord I've just realized that cortex is a time-travelling Albrecht Dürer.
posted by winna at 2:34 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

The thing about the fraternal benefit societies of the 1800's was that the dues they charged were way, way higher (adjusted for inflation) than they are today. And a hell of a lot more people belonged to such organizations than do today. So hefty dues + lots of members = the ability to actual provide some kind of benefit and build up an endowment, which is presumably how Woodmen of the World was able to make the transition from a guys' secret handshake club to insurance company.

As people began to get health insurance elsewhere, a lot of those societies faded away, and the ones that are still left art hurting bad... When all the guys who went through the great depression joined and began running things, they refused to raise dues pretty much ever - partly out of thrift, and partly out of panic when hardly any baby boomers joined these groups in the 60's and 70's. Stagnant dues and low membership = no money to do much of anything.
posted by usonian at 4:01 PM on February 3, 2012

I'm just glad I believe in divine healing.

(And you can take that in either the snark or nonsnark flavor, we have both varieties!)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:03 PM on February 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'll take the nonsnark, flavor, please. My nonsnark has been acting up lately, but my snark is just divine!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:06 PM on February 3, 2012

I just calculated the cost of insurance for a possible move back to the States and had the OMFG flashback when I looked at an old pay slip, and this was with a good company sponsored plan. Even the snark was co-pay.
posted by arcticseal at 4:11 PM on February 3, 2012

I have insurance 'cause I live in Massachusetts

Romney 2012!
posted by atrazine at 4:41 PM on February 3, 2012

Meh, we already elected the mildly Republican version of Romney president in 2008. Now it's that over again or the new Gaffe-Prone Unabashed Plutocrat Who Totally Hates Whoever It Is You'd Like Him To Hate This Week, No, But Really, Is It The Muslims? Because Totally, I Totally Hate Those Guys.
posted by Diablevert at 5:40 PM on February 3, 2012

He wasn't big on pet insurance, though.
posted by maryr at 8:34 PM on February 3, 2012

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints writes "I'd help underwrite it, but I know how you people have tendency to eat shit that's been left out for too long."

Ya, but we'd be able to save a fortune on funeral benefits.
posted by Mitheral at 9:44 PM on February 3, 2012

You know, there is an easier way to do this...and it will be fairly inexpensive, too.

Ingredients:

(2) Fake IDs, one male, one female. make both 29 years old.
(2) Insurance policies, see above.
(1) One website where members check out the IDs, enabling them to go to the doctor. In addition to your share of the premium, you agree to answer the special phone number for your appropriate gender for one day each year. The website will include a log of all the times/locations/problems the insurance was used for. Math-competent mefites will come up with plausible travel scenarios to cover the card's use.
posted by maxwelton at 10:41 PM on February 3, 2012

Mitheral: " Ya, but we'd be able to save a fortune on funeral benefits."

We've already got our own undertaker. *sends out the ColdChef signal*
posted by IndigoRain at 11:09 PM on February 3, 2012

I had a split second of joy when I thought I'd somehow missed something, and there was really a way to get health insurance via MetaFilter, and then I realized my mistake and started to cry and had to leave the computer for a while.
posted by tzikeh at 3:29 AM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Seriously though if you have health problems and don't have an insurance you should really look into getting healthcare through the 'initial stages' of Obamacare. Since June 21, 2010 the government's 'high-risk' pool has been open

Premiums and eligibility standards for many federally run state-based pre-existing insurance pools will be cut, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The changes will impact some- of the state-based insurance programs, which have attracted fewer enrollees than the Obama administration originally estimated. The plan will reduce Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) premiums between two percent and 40 percent in Washington, D.C., and in 17 of the 23 states where the federal government runs the program. Another 27 states run their programs by using federal funding through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

It depends what state you're in, and it's administered by your local state government. But it shouldn't be too difficult to sign up.

--

Pre-Obamacare, setting up a group pool through metafilter would have been impossible unless everyone was forced to sign up. Only high-risk people would have been interested, which would have made premiums super expensive.
posted by delmoi at 7:50 AM on February 4, 2012

IndigoRain writes "We've already got our own undertaker. *sends out the ColdChef signal*"

Well I supposed that is another way.
posted by Mitheral at 8:05 AM on February 4, 2012

Tzikeh, I can offer you a hug if it'll make you feel any better.
posted by goshling at 6:55 PM on February 4, 2012

Thanks, goshling. I am certainly a member of the set "Everyone," so it is inarguable that I need a hug.
posted by tzikeh at 7:01 PM on February 4, 2012

Mitheral: "IndigoRain writes "We've already got our own undertaker. *sends out the ColdChef signal*"

Well I supposed that is another way."

I didn't quite mean it that way!!
posted by IndigoRain at 8:29 AM on February 7, 2012

Now I'm not sure what way you are meaning. My original comment linked to the infamous instruction on how to get rid of a dead body and all I was meaning was calling a funeral service would be another way. Did I accidently slip a double meaning in there?
posted by Mitheral at 12:30 PM on February 7, 2012

I didn't even see the link. You just said we could save a fortune on funeral benefits and I said we already have our own undertaker, so yes, we could save.
posted by IndigoRain at 7:08 PM on February 10, 2012