Ascent of Money 4: Insurance


Ascent of Money 4: Insurance

The overarching theme for this episode of Ascent of money focused on insurance and how we as people do everything in our power to overcome and/ or avoid risk.

One event that the author focussed on in order to stress why insurance was crucial but also complicated was Hurricane Katrina which was a violent hurricane that took place in 2005. This event really caught my attention and I found it extremely concerning. Insurance failed both during and after this disaster and was unable to help citizens in the way it should have after the entire city of New Orleans was ruined. Insurance groups were claiming to not have the power to help citizens and were telling families excuses such as "read the fine print." People were unable to insure their homes after the crisis, and insurance companies completely refused to pay up on insurance claims after the hurricane. Because this was such a terrible disaster and would have cost insurance companies so much, the companies designated areas as no insurance zones after the hurricane and would not protect the people living there. Ever since insurance policies have become extremely expensive and complicated.

During my research for this blog, I found that insurance companies were just abandoning people for such unfair and unethical reasons. They held so much power in this situation and did nothing to help. While the video talked about the event and covered that it was a terrible thing that happened -- the event its self was not clear enough of how awful it really was and how badly these people's lives were messed with. I read many quotes and short articles by victims of Katrina and this event is still widely talked about and in the media, it is often used in comparison to other events to stress the outcome.

Here are a few comics I found in news articles about the event and how insurance groups dealt with it:







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