How does insurance work in a total communist system?

I wonder how good was the government response in communist nations when say your house burnt down? Or say you were injured horribly in a car accident and can no longer work.

Does the government give you a settlement or is there some kind of fund they have within their taxing structure?

Say a industry poisons a waterway and makes thousands chronically sick... how is that resolved in monetary terms?

I couldnt think of which forum to put this in so please move it if neccesary. Also hopefully someone here has lived or is living in a communist system and can answer these questions.

My line of thinking came from me arguing with a friend of my son's who is a communist and told me that the market is evil. He is also very pro union and part of a union. I asked him where he thought his pension money came from.. of course he had no idea (they invest in the stock and bond markets). That led me to think of other taken for granted capitalist things and I suddenly realized that insuring things in communist systems must be difficult since they want to control the value of things and in that process devalue everything.

a reply to: greendust

In communist countries, you have no rights.

If environmental disasters happen, they are covered up and the government says Suck It Up.

a reply to: infolurker

I am sure in most cases that is correct, but I really am curious what they do. I was guessing that they at least pretend to help their population in some sense. Then again with the track record communism has, maybe they really just tell people to pack sand.

a reply to: greendust

Isn't everything owned by the state in communism? So what would be the purpose of insurance? It isn't owned by an individual, it's owned by the government.

a reply to: greendust
Wouldn't the state own your home on behalf of "the people" in a full commie country?
I think so,but if it burned down,you would likely get told to pay a huge bribe for the state otherwise they blame you for the fire and throw you in a dark gulag.

Car insurance-That is compulsory in China oddly-But it must be rigged so the state gets the money.
But they also have the deal where if you hit someone with your vehicle in China,and they end up seriously injured-You have to pay for that persons medical blls for life..which is a form of insurance I suppose.
Sadly,due to this law,many people who injure a pedestrian in China will reverse over them to make sure they are dead so they don't have to fork out money forever-there are videos of people doing this-They still have to go to prison if caught,but at least they don't have those juicy bills to pay.

Mental huh?

originally posted by: Antimony
a reply to: greendust

Isn't everything owned by the state in communism? So what would be the purpose of insurance? It isn't owned by an individual, it's owned by the government.

Which is why I am wondering, how do they deal with issues in communist system that we resolve through insurance? No need to talk about medical issues. We already understand socialized medicine. The pros and the cons.

It's a good question to raise - I know some of how Communist systems operate, but knowing the details would be a goof way to prepare ourselves to debate with people who think the far left is a good thing. The idea of killing pedestrians to avoid medical bills is crazy, but I can easily understand how it could happen.

Well, I know that in Venezuela, which I know isn't technically communist, the health care is state run. Citizens have a right to free health care, but the system so badly run by the state that newborns in some places are creched in cardboard boxes in maternity wards.

I would presume like anything that you have access to a share of what the state provides, but if the share is limited in amount and there is a waiting list, then you simply do without until the state can provide.

There are stories of people going on waiting lists for years just to get one of the smallest, cheapest cars the Soviet Union made, and it was of terrible quality. But, they didn't have to pay.

a reply to: greendust

I hope they do more than they do for all these people that bought houses and then ended up being forced to pay for homes they never received.

originally posted by: greendust
I wonder how good was the government response in communist nations when say your house burnt down? Or say you were injured horribly in a car accident and can no longer work.

The People's Republic Of America has determined that your house was too much for you and your family. The auto accident was because the People's Police Force determined that you were not sufficiently obedient.

Does the government give you a settlement or is there some kind of fund they have within their taxing structure?

The People's Republic Of America has determined that it is privilege enough just to live in our Socialist Paradise.

Say a industry poisons a waterway and makes thousands chronically sick... how is that resolved in monetary terms?

Any discussion of a waterway will be seen as subversive.

I couldnt think of which forum to put this in so please move it if neccesary. Also hopefully someone here has lived or is living in a communist system and can answer these questions.

My line of thinking came from me arguing with a friend of my son's who is a communist and told me that the market is evil. He is also very pro union and part of a union. I asked him where he thought his pension money came from.. of course he had no idea (they invest in the stock and bond markets). That led me to think of other taken for granted capitalist things and I suddenly realized that insuring things in communist systems must be difficult since they want to control the value of things and in that process devalue everything.

My neighbor grew up in the USSR as a child of a KGB agent.
After talking to her for the last two years there was all of the insurances we have here but only provided by the USSR at a cost.

originally posted by: EmeraldCoastFreedm
My neighbor grew up in the USSR as a child of a KGB agent.
After talking to her for the last two years there was all of the insurances we have here but only provided by the USSR at a cost.

You should ask her if Life Insurance paid if you were shot in the back trying to get out of the iron curtain... LOL

originally posted by: greendust
I wonder how good was the government response in communist nations when say your house burnt down? Or say you were injured horribly in a car accident and can no longer work.

Does the government give you a settlement or is there some kind of fund they have within their taxing structure?

Say a industry poisons a waterway and makes thousands chronically sick... how is that resolved in monetary terms?

I couldnt think of which forum to put this in so please move it if neccesary. Also hopefully someone here has lived or is living in a communist system and can answer these questions.

My line of thinking came from me arguing with a friend of my son's who is a communist and told me that the market is evil. He is also very pro union and part of a union. I asked him where he thought his pension money came from.. of course he had no idea (they invest in the stock and bond markets). That led me to think of other taken for granted capitalist things and I suddenly realized that insuring things in communist systems must be difficult since they want to control the value of things and in that process devalue everything.

I don't know but the US is about to learn the hard way.

a reply to: infolurker

I have heard a lot of stories from her plus she showed me a lot of their family albums and ect.
A paper notifying her she was being kicked out of the communist party ect. lol
The touchy subject is when I ask her how many people did her father make disappear.

originally posted by: greendust

originally posted by: Antimony
a reply to: greendust

Isn't everything owned by the state in communism? So what would be the purpose of insurance? It isn't owned by an individual, it's owned by the government.

Which is why I am wondering, how do they deal with issues in communist system that we resolve through insurance? No need to talk about medical issues. We already understand socialized medicine. The pros and the cons.

I don't understand the question.

In a communist nation, all homes are owned by the state.
YOU don't have a home, they do. If it burns down, that's their home, not yours.

Insurance is a gamble you pay into in the hopes that when you take a loss, they'll be there to help.
In a communist nation you don't own anything, so you can't lose anything.

A really good question.

But think of it this way....
I am the state and I have a house.... you live in it.
It burns down...
And now you want compensation?

If your sick, go to the doctor... he or she is not going to ask you for money.
If there is an industrial accident who is the state to "sue"... itself?

I don't see how real communism works... except in some fantasy utopia, and even then, I have questions myself.... questions that I suspect I wouldn't have "the right" to ask.

That's why all communist countries eventually migrate into a quasi-socialist economy... probably because even the hard core Marxists know communism is a self-consuming nightmare for the people. It is true that capitalism is not the perfect solution either... but damn... communism has lead to the deaths of untold tens of millions (and perhaps much more) ... far exceeding anything they any of them had ever imagined.

But I confess, I am no expert in these things...

a reply to: Maxmars

The idea is that you can adequately anticipate and plan for every single need to such a degree that you can then produce exactly what you need in every way.

The problem with this is, of course, the human element.

Even if you could make all of the incredibly complex calculations it would take to perfectly anticipate everything you would need, you still have to rely on the human element, and you calculations are also based on the human element. There are no computers made that can come near to calculating those equations.

And out of this comes the suffering because you have faults in the system. People don't produce constantly. People don't consume constantly. People don't even have the same wants and needs day to day, hour to hour.

Edited Spam

a reply to: greendust

I'm guessing you're joking. Communism gives no rights, no insurance, nothing. You are just a number in the "machine".

You'd be served well to understand Communism. Whereas "everything" is for the people...the people are all the same. And so with that...nothing is different for anyone....Unless you're a Russian Oligarch.

Insurance? That's a part of Capitalism...not Communism.

Peace

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Yep.

Since the state owns, the state provides all. If something takes away what the state gave, then you go back in the queue for the next allotment. It's that simple.