"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.
"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"
"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"
"When I came to Congress, like our first panel, small business people, 64 percent of the people had health insurance. We'd buy it. Now, we're down to about 34 percent. That's why we have to do something on health care in this country because the cost is killing us"
