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Insurers Profit From Health Law They Fought

winston53660

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Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health-care overhaul, saying it would raise costs and disrupt coverage. Instead, profit margins at the companies widened to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows.

Insurers led by WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the biggest by membership, recorded their highest combined quarterly net income of the past decade after the law was signed in 2010, said Peter Gosselin, the study author and senior health-care analyst for Bloomberg Government. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Managed Health-Care Index rose 36 percent in the period, four times more than the S&P 500.
“The industry that was the loudest, most persistent critic of this law, the industry whose analysts and executives predicted it would suffer immensely because of the law, has thrived,” Gosselin said. “There is a shift to government work under way that is going to represent a fundamental change in their business model.”
Health insurers contributed $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the law after Obama administration officials criticized the plans for enriching themselves by raising customer premiums. America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s Washington lobbyist, still says on its website the law will raise costs and cause consumers to lose coverage.

Insurers Profit From Health Law They Fought - Bloomberg


Seems like these guys might have wasted 86 million bucks.
 
They succeeded in killing the public option, so for them it was money well spent.
 
The insurers won - they fought a public option because that would have forced them to bring down costs by streamlining overhead and lowering profits to stay competitive. By defeating the public option while allowing a mandate that everyone have healthcare, the health insurers assured they would continue to be able to bleed money slated to pay for healthcare to pad their bottom lines.

We are the only first world country without a public option to cover basic healthcare. A few countries have moved toward the US model (driven by private insurers meddling in their politics) for basic care and are seeing what America already has -- the most costly healthcare in the world with lackluster healthcare outcomes.
 
They succeeded in killing the public option, so for them it was money well spent.

I think they just put it off. It is inevitable that there will be a public option.
 
Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health-care overhaul, saying it would raise costs and disrupt coverage. Instead, profit margins at the companies widened to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows.

Insurers led by WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the biggest by membership, recorded their highest combined quarterly net income of the past decade after the law was signed in 2010, said Peter Gosselin, the study author and senior health-care analyst for Bloomberg Government. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Managed Health-Care Index rose 36 percent in the period, four times more than the S&P 500.
“The industry that was the loudest, most persistent critic of this law, the industry whose analysts and executives predicted it would suffer immensely because of the law, has thrived,” Gosselin said. “There is a shift to government work under way that is going to represent a fundamental change in their business model.”
Health insurers contributed $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the law after Obama administration officials criticized the plans for enriching themselves by raising customer premiums. America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s Washington lobbyist, still says on its website the law will raise costs and cause consumers to lose coverage.

Insurers Profit From Health Law They Fought - Bloomberg


Seems like these guys might have wasted 86 million bucks.

They are creating their own trust fund to mitigate their loses in the future.

On a serious note, their profit margin went from 6.8% to 8.2%. Not a big jump.
 
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They are creating their own trust fund to mitigate their loses in the future.

On a serious note, their profit margin went from 6.8% to 8.2%. Not a big jump.

That is a HUGE jump in dollar terms.
 
considering how much they lobbied to kill the public option, the article should have been titled "Insurers profit from health law they bought."
 
considering how much they lobbied to kill the public option, the article should have been titled "Insurers profit from health law they bought."

Lobbying money is generally the best investment a company can make in our broken system. Studies suggest that corporations typically receive a 600% to 2000% return on their lobbying dollars.
 
Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health-care overhaul, saying it would raise costs and disrupt coverage. Instead, profit margins at the companies widened to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows.

Insurers led by WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the biggest by membership, recorded their highest combined quarterly net income of the past decade after the law was signed in 2010, said Peter Gosselin, the study author and senior health-care analyst for Bloomberg Government. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Managed Health-Care Index rose 36 percent in the period, four times more than the S&P 500.
“The industry that was the loudest, most persistent critic of this law, the industry whose analysts and executives predicted it would suffer immensely because of the law, has thrived,” Gosselin said. “There is a shift to government work under way that is going to represent a fundamental change in their business model.”
Health insurers contributed $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the law after Obama administration officials criticized the plans for enriching themselves by raising customer premiums. America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s Washington lobbyist, still says on its website the law will raise costs and cause consumers to lose coverage.

Insurers Profit From Health Law They Fought - Bloomberg


Seems like these guys might have wasted 86 million bucks.

Of course they're going to make tons of money. Without a public option, and the "healthcare" law being that you have to buy healthcare, all money goes to those insurance agencies. Hand out to the insurance companies; I've said so for some time.
 
Lobbying money is generally the best investment a company can make in our broken system. Studies suggest that corporations typically receive a 600% to 2000% return on their lobbying dollars.

Hell yeah they do; one of the best investment strategies ever. Goes to show how easily our system is bought.
 
At their present net income after taxes, a 1% increase would be about 10 million. Is that "HUGE"?

The net increase was actually 1.4%, not 1%. Not sure where you get your numbers, but they are WAAAY off. If UnitedHealth Group alone increased it's net by 1.4% it would mean an additional $1.3 BILLION in profit.
 
If UnitedHealth Group alone increased it's net by 1.4% it would mean an additional $1.3 BILLION in profit.

Maybe some people don't think a billion guaranteed by the government (via forcing people to have insurance) isn't that much. But hell, I'd take it.
 
And, just think of all the jobs that are going to be lost.

untying health insurance from employment would be a massive weight removed from employers. if there's another first world nation that uses this inefficient method, i sure haven't heard about it.
 
Fact is that Obama passed a boondoggle. After promising that he would lower premiums and costs, by an average of $2500 per year for the average household, we have instead seen costs rise across the board. We are looking at more debt because of Obamacare in the coming years, not the promised savings. And this is with Obama bribing Senators to pass this POS.

This is what happens when one party gets total control. Thanks Obama. Jackass.
 
Yeah, the sad reality is that the insurance companies/tea party managed to kill the parts of the plan designed to keep costs/profit taking down.
 
Yeah, the sad reality is that the insurance companies/tea party managed to kill the parts of the plan designed to keep costs/profit taking down.

Good grief. The Tea Party had zero input or influence, as the bill needed no vote from anyone Tea Party to pass. This is a 100% Democrat/Obama creation. Own it for once. :)

Edit in:
PPACA passed the Senate on December 24, 2009, by a vote of 60–39 with all Democrats and two Independents voting for, and all Republicans voting against.[8] It passed the House of Representatives on March 21, 2010, by a vote of 219–212, with 34 Democrats and all 178 Republicans voting against the bill.

That's from Wikipedia. Show me the Tea Party component of the affirmative vote, if you will ? Thanks.
 
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untying health insurance from employment would be a massive weight removed from employers. if there's another first world nation that uses this inefficient method, i sure haven't heard about it.

Most first world nations are falling on their asses, because they can no longer pay the bills, too.
 
Good grief. The Tea Party had zero input or influence, as the bill needed no vote from anyone Tea Party to pass. This is a 100% Democrat/Obama creation. Own it for once. :)

Are you kidding me? You don't think all the hytrionics of the tea party had any effect? You don't understand how politics work. The Democrats had to shift their positions to retain their seats because of the teabagging/insurance company pressure.
 
Yeah, the sad reality is that the insurance companies/tea party managed to kill the parts of the plan designed to keep costs/profit taking down.

Why on earth would anyone support legislation that would kill private sector profits?
 
We cannot afford a public option...

We can't possibly afford NOT to have a public option! Medical costs in the US are doubling every 7 years. At this rate, in 20 years health care for one person will cost more than the median income. We can't possibly afford that. Countries with public options pay half or less what we do for medical care, but get higher quality care. The whole point of the public option is to force costs down.
 
It was a horrible bill. It was written by the insurance companies. Of course they are going to make money on this deal.
 
Are you kidding me? You don't think all the hytrionics of the tea party had any effect? You don't understand how politics work. The Democrats had to shift their positions to retain their seats because of the teabagging/insurance company pressure.

This was 11 months before the election. If you want to blame some Democrats who reacted to the influences of Insurance companies, then have at it.

Otherwise, it is you who are trying to kid the rest of us. Try again.
 
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