If health insurance companies ran the postal service...

[proud2BlibKansan]

Could health insurance companies opting to get into mail delivery make the current single deliverer postal service worse? Let's speculate.

If medical insurance companies ran postal services, citizens would pay a monthly premium to get mail delivery. The premium would vary by age, sex and region of the country.

To enhance competition, multiple health insurance companies would compete for mail delivery business. Some companies would provide service only to citizens in cities with populations over 2 million and would deliver only to comparable cities with populations exceeding 2 million. To conserve costs, subscribers would be permitted to post mail only at selected in-network post offices.

People with preexisting high junk mail volume would pay a 300% surcharge.

Citizens with dogs would be required to get mail delivery through the state high risk mail pool.

It would cost $.42 to send a letter across town. Delivery to rural areas would cost $20. Delivery to another state would cost $40. However, the actual allowable charge paid to subcontractors would vary by company.

more . . . http://voices.kansascity.com/node/4186

[kentuck]

1. Stamps would cost about 2.29 each....

Just slightly better than UPS or FedEx..

[JVS]

2. They'd pend most of their time figuring out what mail of yours can be thrown away

[iamjoy]

3. They Wouldn't Deliver

They would return mail if you had incorrectly spelled words in the address - even if it was obvious what city you meant. Sometimes, they would deny delivery of your package for no reason at all, and you would have to go down to the post office and complain - then they would review your envelope and decide it was a valid mailing and send it on its merry way.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Pre-existing address conditions. n/t

[yy4me]

5. They would also return your birthday and valentines day cards

because no-one at the store mentioned that the square ones they sell will be rejected because the size does not allow them to go through the sorter. Why are greeting card companies allowed to sell cards that will be rejected? Card cost lost, initial stamp lost,and they now want you to put far more postage on them. Guess, 82 cents I'll bet.

Nuts, My family got a call and an explanation. I didn't forget, I just assumed if I bought the cards, they were mailable at normal postage cost.

Should have known better, I guess.

[Believing Is Art]

6. You mail a letter and receive a bill for $10,000, pending review of your claim.

You mail the claim and receive another bill for $10,000 pending review of another claim. You mail that claim and receive a bill . . .

This continues for a few years. The insurance company decides that it will only cover the original mailed letter, as all of the claims were unnecessary mailing procedures. You owe them 50 million dollars.

[dysfunctional press]

7. we don't have a single-deliverer postal service.

we also have fedex and ups.

[izquierdista]

8. Your priority letter would be sent bulk rate

Since it didn't really need to get there before next month anyway.

[unblock]

9. you would need a letter of postal necessity in order to receive mail from a new sender

you could counter that the mere sending of a letter is a clear indication of postal necessity to receive it, but they wold ignore your "logic" and refuse to deliver your mail unless and until the sender also sent a letter of postal necessity to the insurance company clearly stating your need to receive the letter they sent.

occassionally they would deny even that, and you would have to go through a lengthy appeals process before they would probably agree to deliver your mail.

wherever possible, they would deliver a generic form letter instead of personalized mail from the actual sender. much cheaper for the insurance company, but they're only doing it to keep your postal premiums low, you know.

[lolly]

10. Well, maybe

You wouldn't even get to mail a letter at all

Unless you first made an appointment with a General Practitioner Mailer who would determine whether you really needed to mail that letter, and whether it was usual and customary for people in your situation to mail a letter.

Said appointment would, of course, take about 3 months to get. And you would have to wait a minimum of 1 hour to get in to see the approved practitioner.

On edit--To OP: Also a proud member of AFT!

[doctor jazz]

11. But they damn well would make a profit.

:shrug:

[annabanana]

12. The "dead letter" office would be the size of

the State of Pennsylvania.

[TexasObserver]

13. ... it would cost $3000 to send a letter.