This sounds like a great idea if you can make the finances work. In the end, someone has to pay for the healthcare or whatever you're insuring so whether your site will pay an insurance premium on behalf of members or will act as an insurer itself, in the end it needs cash. What will your website do to generate that revenue from the users' participation?

Tell us more... am amused and fascinated!

Without money, can you afford the computer and provider?
Tommy

Well, this might be a nice pitch, but not practical. CH has micro payments for participation. So far I have earned the amount of one co-payment....

For families I know they are paying hundreds of dollars per month in insurance. So your site would have to generate that much money for a majority of your users to keep them coming back. Doesn't seem possible.

If I really was in desperate need of health insurance my time would be better spent moving packages for UPS (who offer benefits even to part time workers) than being online.

This site would not be able to provide very high coverage as it would not be able to get hundreds from each person per month (at least I don't think so). But it still might be enough for some low coverage.

I was thinking advertising, but the main reason I put it up here is for brainstorming to see if anybody could figure out how to make this nice-but-not-practical idea into a practical one.

Why not just pay them cash and let them buy the insurance? Or if you wanted to really ensure the insurance angle, then you just let them earn money on a site that will pay for insurance. Oh wait, that would be like a job where you earn money and use that money for insurance.

I think there are a lot of reasons people are uninsured, but I think for many it's a choice or there's a reason an insurance company doesn't want to insure them.

well i'm not sure if this idea feasible although it indicates a friendly and nice future for low income ppls

It might be sort of interesting to have sponsored insurance.

Instead of a company spending oodles of dollars on advertisements they could pay the insurance of a few people in exchange for them promoting the product or service of the company....

I don't understand it: if they are doing something valuable, why not just give them money so that they can buy their own insurance? I think your system would just complicate things, and lead to exploitation, because it would be less transparent than just using money.

Advertizers will be reluctant to buy ads for a website that caters to people with no money.

The other problem with this idea is that it assumes that what isurance companies do does not cost alot of money. That the only reason that they charge so much is becuase they are greedy profiteering b*as**.
Well actually that might be true. But it is a fairly competative industry. So you are either going to have to figure out a way to transfer risk in a cheaper way (this idea does not do that). Or force people with money to pay for those that don't have it (again, this site does not do that.)

Hows the operation cost? ...sounds like a glory pts but insurance instead...very interesting...but an unchartered territory too risky though innovative.

I think ccozad's comments say it all. There just simply isn't enough money generated to pay insurance premiums. Without that, this idea simply doesn't work...

I guess it's just too impractical and risky as-is. Thanks for the feedback!