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Publicly traded Health Insurance Companies maximize profits. Therefore they raise Health Insurance Premiums in the short term, although they lose customers in the long term. "[T]hey are driven to raise prices for their health plans to satisfy investors, which in turn drives away customers." Noam Levey, "Healthcare/Health Insurers Take Heat for Rise in Profits" (Los Angeles Times Online, Thursday, February 11, 2010).
A report issued on Thursday, February 11, 2010 by Health Care for America Now contains some revealing statistics: Download Health_Insurance_profits.Health Care For America Now Report.021110. Health Care for America Now is an advocacy organization which favors overhauling Healthcare and Health Insurance. The statistics come from information filed by the subject Health Insurance Companies with the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission. On the whole, then, the statistical evidence in the report seems highly reliable.
Four of the five largest Health Insurance Companies which were identified in the report, reportedly lost a total of 2.7 million people to the ranks of the uninsured between 2008 and 2009. One, Aetna, gained 1.2 million customers. Between the linked newspaper article and the Health Care for America Now report, the five largest Health Insurance Companies, and the city and State of their headquarters, are:
- Wellpoint, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana (and parent corporation of Anthem Blue Cross which recently raised its Premiums hugely), with a reported 7.3% profit margin.
- United Health Group, headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota. "UnitedHealth alone insured 1.7 million fewer people through employee-based or individual coverage." Download Health_Insurance_profits.Health Care For America Now Report.021210, at 3.
- Cigna, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a reported 7.1% profit margin.
- Aetna, of Hartford, Connecticut.
- Humana, of Louisville, Kentucky, and a profit margin of 3.4%.
See, e.g., Noam Levey, Los Angeles Times, supra; Download Health_Insurance_profits.Health Care For America Now Report.021110.
For as long as profits drive Premiums, can publicly traded Health Insurance Companies provide the Coverage you and your clients require, at prices you can afford? This is a question which does not appear to be adequately addressed by either of the pending U.S. Senate or House Healthcare bills.
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