When thinking about insurance companies, I’m always reminded of a story that I heard in college.

It seems a merchant in England decided to purchase insurance for a trading expedition to the newly burgeoning American colonies.

When two of his three ships failed to return, he went to collect on his policy and they said to him, “How can we know that your men didn’t pirate those ships?” They refused to give him a penny and he lost everything.

Unfortunately in America, you cannot live without some form of insurance. I know that I, personally, feel like insurance companies are holding me hostage. They set their own prices and hold all the cards, so to speak.

We entrust insurance companies with our most important assets — our health and the health of our families. But the fact is, they make more profit when they don’t pay off claims.

Insurance CEOs are the highest paid, and the insurance industry averages profits of more than $30 billion a year and hold trillions of dollars in assets.

Yet, they continue to do everything in their power not to have to pay claims.

Some of their tricks include denying claims and rewarding employees who make denials a habit; confusing customers with complicated contract language; discriminating because of credit ratings; and delaying until death in cases of the elderly because if they wait long enough, the policy holder will pass away.

I’ve always viewed insurance companies as soulless creations — little more than bureaucratic monsters concerned only with gobbling up profits, willing to take your payment every month, then refusing to pay up when the time comes and you need them the most.

Insurance lobbyists are some of the most influential in Washington and throw around a lot of money every year to remain in control of the health industry.

If insurance companies won’t play fair, then it’s time that our nation starts looking at other options.

It’s time we stand up to their greed and its time that we had a choice.