There's an old adage about India vs China (I like think I made it up, but I probably just read it somewhere): "China succeeds because of its government and India succeeds despite it's government." The Private sector in India has solved a lot of problems that the govt hasn't been able to (e.g. affordable quality education, reasonable healthcare options etc.).
The most absurd example of this that I've found in India is a privatized emergency service. When I was out with some friends, I asked a simple question, what's the equivalent of 911 in India if I'm ever in a pinch. Every one stared blankly for a few seconds (FYI, the real #'s are 100 for police, 101 for Fire, 102 for an ambulance. Why 3 different #'s?!?! Who knows) .
Apparently, the answer to my question is getting Topsline emergency service-- a private emergency line that you can access by calling 1252. A few interesting snippets from their website:
* "Mumbai chooses life."
* With "conventional methods, you have to remember numerous and different numbers for multiple types of emergency situations. And besides, we reach you in a committed response time of 9 minutes flat!"
Obviously, they're filling an unmet need in the market which is great for everyone I suppose. Besides, they only cost $3 a month to sign-up per person. They have apparently saved a friend of a friend's life twice (once from a fire, another time during a medical emergency).
What do you guys think? Should I sign up?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
YES!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis depends on how much you value your life.
ReplyDelete1. Assume the risk free rate of return is 0%. (Isn't it near this right now?) This means you'll be paying $72 across your stay in India for this service.
2. The likelihood of dying in the next two years if you are a 20-29 year old male living in the US is 0.001553 assuming you stay in that age bracket from the first to the second year -- and you do.
3. Use the grossly exaggerated assumption that you are three times more likely to die in India than in the US. This means your chance of dying in India in the next two years is .00466.
4. Assuming this insurance (because that's what it really is) is 100% successful and that the rest of my assumptions are reasonable, you would be indifferent between taking and not taking the private emergency service if you valued your life at ~$50,000.
So if you believe your life is worth more than $50,000 / a high end Indian Accord, then you should shell out the dollars for this.
- Varun
(I'm assuming the probability of death for a 20-29 year old comes from mostly *preventable* reasons, which seems reasonable.)
But Sri's probability of death may be higher, given his propensity to fall asleep in public, leaving him vulnerable to danger while snoozing. And vodka consumption must surely up those probabilities as well. So really, Sri you could value your life at a lot less.
ReplyDeleteBut regardless, is this one of those insurance companies that gets you to pay for protection from itself? I dunno, they intercept phone calls to the real emergency services and block them from reaching you, if you DONT buy their insurance? If so, hold strong, Sri. Don't cave into bullies.
Also, I am required by law to buy no less than 5 different insurances in Switzerland. Including one that prevents be from being liable for you hurting yourself in my apartment, and one that also covers any law suits I happen to find myself involved in...what, am I a doctor?
Varun, good starting analysis (I'm glad it took you more than one try to get it right as well). But you can't leave a guy hanging with half the answer. I need to be completely informed before I can make a decision. You're asking if I value my life more than $50,000. Can you develop a perspective/build a base case NPV for my life to see if it's worth more than that? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Amelia, it's a good thing you have all those insurances...I've seen what you do with people in your apartment.
Yeah, I pulled a S(i)ri and left out a verb in the first message, hence the deletion.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's nonsensical for me to tell you how much you think your life is worth since I do not know how you think (besides your insatiable need for fowl calories). You're on your own on that one, my friend.