Pretty much like car insurance.
When I think about it, I don't know why I assumed it would be different, and actually,
from what I know of the American health insurance business, automobile insurance
is probably more prevalent. Still, reading about an open
enrollment period reminded me primarily of the end-of-the-year marathon Tzippi
runs each December, phoning numerous insurance companies and then trying to compare
one company's apples to the other's oranges, before deciding whether we should
keep with one, return to the other, or try out a new one - even though over the
years we've learned that the differences between the companies are rather minimal.
One may have a slightly lower price, but a less desirable premium, another promises
a present which we probably don't need, and they all keep you on hold for extended
waits. If the open enrollment period for health insurance is similar to that of
car insurance, I wouldn't be surprised if people become ill just from trying to
make the switch.
With car insurance we've learned that we have to fax the new company our records
from our years with the previous companies. This is our responsibility, though
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that all of these records are kept in some collective
database. With health records we can't forward our records to our new insurance
company. These records stay put - which turns out to be an advantage.
The idea of a set time of year during which people moved from one insurance policy
to another also called to mind the moving period in Jerusalem that Yosef Haim
Brenner used as a backdrop to intensify the sense of transience in his novel Breakdown
and Bereavement, though I doubt that this is what Larry had in mind.
Go to: Virtual worlds, and real health.