Health insurance company profits in 2007 (Pelosi, Seattle, state, support)
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I didn't get into medicine for money and I would guess most doctors didn't either. I worked incredibly hard at a top university. I could have went to a top law school, gotten hired at an investment bank or join a consulting company. I chose to go to medical school because I wanted to make an impact in peoples' lives.
When adjusted for inflation, doctors were paid more in the past than they are now. They saw less patients, paid less in malpractice and tuition for medical school. Doctors also had more control in the past and didn't have their decisions second guessed by an insurance company.
I can also tell you this, patients were more respectful of physicians back then as well. It's a generational thing but many people today feel entitled or read an article on the internet and act like they know more than their doctor or argue with them. Some people come into our office and act like they are shopping at Wal-Mart and demand we prescribe them certain medications instead of allowing us to do our jobs. I understand there are bad doctors and I've witnessed them. I sympathize with those patients. But patients don't have the opportunity to see other bad patients and how those patients treat doctors and nurses. If you had a chance to see that, you would probably view us differently.
good post.. if you're a doctor for the only reason to make 300k.. you're probably not a very good doctor.. and you're in it for ALL the wrong reasons.. and have been lying to yourself and everyone around you durring the 8 years of education and training...
problem is the overhead of providing healthcare services... and that overhead is big business..
it tells me.. that they are getting visa's to enter the country because they can fill a void that a citizen cannot.. which means america is not producing enough doctors for it's own demand.. creating an increase in the cost of the services..
Well maybe if the doctors did not have to pay back enormous student loans and if the best and brightest were given free or at least reasonable tuition to medical school, it would create an incentive. Everything in this country is about the profits and America will pay the price for the greed of the corporations and banks.
Last edited by sickofnyc; 07-30-2009 at 11:36 PM..
Well maybe if the doctors did not have to pay back enormous student loans and if the best and brightest were given free or at least reasonable tuition to medical school, it would be create an incentive. Everything in this country is about the profits and America will pay the price for the greed of the corporations and banks.
we already are... the chickens are coming home to roost. Importance on the mighty dollar when it comes to everything governing our society..
things can't continue like this for much longer.. there's going to be a lot of people that aren't going to be able to afford a pot to p*ss in...
while the select few will own and control everything.. and the rest of us will be begging for crumbs...
well lucky you...
I have pretty good healthcare through my job as well, but because i'm gay.. my partner isn't allowed to be covered on it because we aren't married..
SO.. essentially we have to pay seperately for his..
so we pay twice as much as you do... and the human resources department is essentially in control of my healthcare options..
two years ago, I was forced into a bunch of HMO crap.. then it was changed again, and that provider was scrapped.. and now we go through a different insurance company that only allows you to work within their network of physicians... for people that live in rural area's.. that means sometimes driving hours just to see a doctor that is in your network...
consider yourself lucky...
healthcare for my family has been an absolute headache
my sister and her kids live with my partner and I.. and her deadbeat ex-husband refuses to insure the kids..and my sister was a stay at home mom, and lacks the ability to provide for the kids herself without going on the state for health insurance...so here we are in a full house situation.. and uncle boiseguy is trying to provide for the household...and faced with unfair, ridiculous restrictions and exceptions to rules which cost him an arm and a leg.. when it doesn't even have to be like this...and it shouldn't...
And when those with good plans have big claims or as in my DILs case have a potential big claim...she was laid off. Surprise! You know...we will be fine because we have a family / church support system. But this is what others with much less support go thru every day and many of you say should go without..?
we already are... the chickens are coming home to roost. Importance on the mighty dollar when it comes to everything governing our society..
things can't continue like this for much longer.. there's going to be a lot of people that aren't going to be able to afford a pot to p*ss in...
while the select few will own and control everything.. and the rest of us will be begging for crumbs...
Isn't that why the French stormed the Bastille?
Well, that is why they have given the people Wal-Mart. At least they can still afford to buy poison crap from China.
1. UnitedHealth Group — $ 4.654 BILLION. UnitedHealth Group owns Oxford, PacifiCare, IBA, AmeriChoice, Evercare, Ovations, MAMSI and Ingenix, a health care data company
2. WellPoint — $ 3.345 BILLION. Wellpoint owns BLUES across the US, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Healthy Alliance, and many others
3. Aetna Inc. — $ 1.831 BILLION
4. CIGNA Corp — $ 1.115 BILLION
5. Humana Inc. — $ 834 million
6. Coventry Health Care — $626 million. Coventry owns Altius, Carelink, Group Health Plan, HealthAmerica, OmniCare, WellPath, others
7. Health Net — $ 194 million
The huge insurance company profits—BILLIONS EACH YEAR—could be used to provide quality healthcare for millions of people, and to pay physicians adequately for their work.
Let's do some math, shall we?
First let's make some very generous assumptions for the pro-government crowd.
They claim 47 million Americans are uninsured, desire insurance and are unable to obtain insurance. OK, it's a lie, but we'll assume it to be true.
The total profit of the companies mentioned in the OP is $12.599 billion.
I found another website that lists the top five companies. Those numbers match up, but let's account for all the smaller and less profitable companies by doubling the original figure.
Now our private insurance industry made 26 billion last year!
So let's assume we have a single payer operating with equal efficiency to the private companies (also a fantasy).
Assuming our total payments for health insurance remain the same (giving more credit to the statists who claim a UHC will cost less and cover everyone), the 47 million uninsured will logically be covered by the profit that would otherwise go to those horrible corporations.
Now the math:
$26,000,000,000 / 47,000,000 = $553.19
Apparently the government will be able to insure each of those 47 million persons for five hundred fifty-three dollars and nineteen cents per year with no reduction of coverage and no denial of needed care or drugs.
That's very impressive. If we could cover everyone in the nation for $553.19 per year, our total expenditure for all health care would only be $166 billion per year. We should be able to swing that.
OK, liberals. You've convinced me. I'm willing to go along with UHC as long as it covers everyone, has no denial or reduction of services or drugs and the total cost is held to $166 billion per year.
uh, I thought profit is what is left AFTER all expenses.
As I stated in a previous post, the health insurance companies seem to have immunity from law suits because of a loophole in something called the Erisa Law.
As I stated in a previous post, the health insurance companies seem to have immunity from law suits because of a loophole in something called the Erisa Law.
1. UnitedHealth Group — $ 4.654 BILLION. UnitedHealth Group owns Oxford, PacifiCare, IBA, AmeriChoice, Evercare, Ovations, MAMSI and Ingenix, a healthcare data company
2. WellPoint — $ 3.345 BILLION. Wellpoint owns BLUES across the US, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Healthy Alliance, and many others
3. Aetna Inc. — $ 1.831 BILLION
4. CIGNA Corp — $ 1.115 BILLION
5. Humana Inc. — $ 834 million
6. Coventry Health Care — $626 million. Coventry owns Altius, Carelink, Group Health Plan, HealthAmerica, OmniCare, WellPath, others
7. Health Net — $ 194 million
The huge insurance company profits—BILLIONS EACH YEAR—could be used to provide quality healthcare for millions of people, and to pay physicians adequately for their work.
Small health insurance companies can't compete in the group or individual market any more....it's too unstable for smaller companies that are not diversified enough. Government mandates like the last mess that few know about, HIPAA have all but put them out of business and everything is HMO now (which is what we'll be getting with a single-payer sysytem).
Nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with a carrier making a profit, that's why they're still in business. Some of the companies you have listed have not made all their profits exclusively from maketing health insurance....Aetna does a lot of other lines of insurance for example.....and the biggest money maker of all by quite big lead too, is United HealthCare which has taken over Medicare from Aetna for a couple of years now....Medicare, the government system for those over 65.
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OK, liberals. You've convinced me!
I give up.
