Leo Lichtman wrote:

"SteveB" wrote: It tells me that there must be a pretty good profit in the
insurance game. Pardon me, trade.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I knew what you were driving at. But do you see what I was getting at?
Insurance companies can't make a profit if they just pay the losses with the
money they take in. They have to invest the premiums at interest, so the
expected losses still leave them a profit.

Incorrect, they can and do make a profit by charging premiums that
exceed the predicted losses. Their actuaries spend plenty of time
figuring out how much a particular coverage will cost in claims and they
price the premiums to collect that much plus whatever profit they can
get away with. Any investment profits just ice the corrupt cake. And
premiums are regularly increased to offset losses in a completely
unrelated area.

Pete C.