Fat Check Fact Check
The health insurance industry needs competition (from the government, of course) because it consistently makes a killing. Right?
The way most news outlets tell it, that’s the case. However, this fact check article tells another story:
Health insurers posted a 2.2 percent profit margin last year, placing them 35th on the Fortune 500 list of top industries. As is typical, other health sectors did much better – drugs and medical products and services were both in the top 10.
…
HealthSpring, the best performer in the health insurance industry, posted 5.4 percent. That’s a less profitable margin than was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach and Molson and Coors beers.
The star among the health insurance companies did, however, nose out Jack in the Box restaurants, which only achieved a 4 percent margin.
So, the way I read that, what we really need is for the government to get into the fast food business. Give Jack in the Box a run for its money. Mmmm. Government cheeseburgers. Sounds like a winner to me.
Puhlease…. the clowns on capitol hill don’t know anything about insurance companies. I’ve worked in the, it’s an extremely unglamorous industry that is always attacked by said clowns.<
As an example. There is a lot of Lyme disease in the state. So the geniuses on the hill decided to mandate coverage for Lyme disease and treatment. Any idea how many people get that in a year? In 2007 there were 236 CONFIRMED cases. Think about that. They caused any insurance company that does business in that state to have to provide coverage for something that will only affect 236 people. How the hell do you even start to do business in a state like that? Stats from http://bit.ly/4itk42, warning its a pdf.
So yeah, not surprised that there's no real facts in the healthcare debate. It's all about emotion and how I've been wronged. It's like a bad country song.