Oops, seems like I was wrong here. The dynamic doesn’t extend to insurance, at least in general. Good point.
Then, my objection would be that the equvalence itself doesn’t hold. Insurance is, supposedly, priced based on the actual risk. It also doesn’t contain a negative feedback loop; people don’t get sick more often because they pay for the insurance [1]. This is not the case for a “no man left behind” policy. The rescue operations cost, on expectation, more lives than they save. Since no money is involved, the policy cannot price in the risk. Of course this policy isn’t absolute and in some cases isn’t followed, when the ratio looks too bad. Not that a medical insurance company would burn hundred millions for a single patient either.
Oops, seems like I was wrong here. The dynamic doesn’t extend to insurance, at least in general. Good point.
Then, my objection would be that the equvalence itself doesn’t hold. Insurance is, supposedly, priced based on the actual risk. It also doesn’t contain a negative feedback loop; people don’t get sick more often because they pay for the insurance [1] . This is not the case for a “no man left behind” policy. The rescue operations cost, on expectation, more lives than they save. Since no money is involved, the policy cannot price in the risk. Of course this policy isn’t absolute and in some cases isn’t followed, when the ratio looks too bad. Not that a medical insurance company would burn hundred millions for a single patient either.
Not counting counterfactually using the money for preventative measures.