"Insurance - an ingenious modern game of chance in which the player is permitted to enjoy the comfortable conviction that he is beating the man who keeps the table"
- Ambrose Bierce
About this Quote
This quote by Ambrose Bierce is an amusing take on the concept of insurance. He is suggesting that insurance coverage is a video game of possibility, where the gamer has the ability to feel as though they are winning, despite the fact that the individual who is running the game (the insurance company) is the one who is actually winning. Bierce is indicating that insurance is a way for people to feel protected, despite the fact that the odds are stacked versus them. He is also suggesting that insurance companies are taking advantage of individuals's desire for security, and are benefiting from it. This quote is a tip that insurance coverage is a gamble, and that it is essential to be familiar with the threats included. It is also a suggestion that insurance companies are organizations, which they are aiming to make a profit.
"In the 5 years, well over 60,000 American families have been broken apart by the absence of insurance because the only way for parents to get treatment for their children is to turn the custody of those children over to the State"
"Now is not the time to give greater protections to pharmaceutical companies that put unsafe drugs like Vioxx on the market. Such protections have nothing to do with the liability insurance crisis facing doctors and should be stripped from this bill"
"Skyrocketing insurance premiums are debilitating our Nation's health care delivery system and liability insurers are either leaving the market or raising rates to excessive levels"
"The majority of Americans receive health insurance coverage through their employers, but with rising health care costs, many small businesses can no longer afford to provide coverage for their employees"
"Here's the truth. The proposed top rate of income tax is not 50 per cent. It is 50 per cent plus 1.5 per cent national insurance paid by employees plus 13.3 per cent paid by employers. That's not 50 per cent. Two years from now, Britain will have the highest tax rate on earned income of any developed country"
"Who's paying the million bucks? The insurance company. We've been trying for years to get the insurance industry to say to the gun industry, We won't insure you unless you have policies that will reduce the likelihood of guns falling into the wrong hands easily"