How William Shatner Could Reform Health Care More than Obama

So I apply for health insurance online because the Captain is one of those swashbuckling, self employed entrepreneur types that answers to no one, drives a motorcycle, calls his own shots, and ultimately as a result of his non-conformance has to get his own catastrophic health insurance.

I shopped online at esurance and noticed the application process was nearly identical to looking for hotels and flights. The only difference was that unlike Hotels.com, you can't "name your own price."

Thus I wish I had the Priceline Negotiator with The Big Deal backing me up when I got my quote.


It was a fair quote, but I noticed the one sidedness of it all. I either had to accept or not. There was no way for me to talk to the underwriter and say, "look, I use tobacco, but it's a cigar every 2 months. I'm not smoking a pack a day, cut me a deal or I'll go look elsewhere."

Alas, this option does not exist. However, if it did, I wonder what effect it would have on health insurance prices? Not that there are a lot of margins to be squeezed out of the insurance industry, but by simply having The Negotiator and The Big Deal on your side, perhaps some savings, or at least cost control would be realized.