US health insurers reap record profits in 2009

The five largest US health insurance companies set new profit records in 2009, while the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression sent millions of Americans onto the unemployment line and into poverty.

The five firms reported $12.2 billion in profits last year, an increase of $4.4 billion, or 56 percent, over 2008. At the same time, 2.7 million Americans who had been enrolled in private health plans the year before lost their coverage.

The profit figures were released last week by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a coalition of health advocacy and labor groups pushing for passage of the Obama administration’s health care plan...

The insurance giants’ profits reported by HCAN are indeed breathtaking. The study provides data on the top five for-profit health insurers: UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc., Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., and Cigna Corp. Four of the five saw earnings increase in 2009, with CIGNA’s profits jumping by a stunning 346 percent.

While the insurers raked in massive profits in 2009, four of the five companies insured fewer people through private coverage. At the same time, all but one of the five insurers increased the number of people they covered through public insurance programs, including Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Plans (CHIP), and Medicare. This is part of a long-term plan by insurers to shift responsibility for covering millions of sick, older, or lower-income customers to taxpayer-funded government health programs. These programs have, in turn, been increasingly hiring the big insurers to manage their care...

While their profits have soared, the proportion of dollars earned through premiums that is spent on health care expenses went down at three of the five firms, with ever-larger relative sums being funneled to administrative expenses and CEO and shareholder profits. The medical loss ratio (MLR)—the share of premiums used to pay health care providers—decreased or remained flat at most insurers...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/prof-f19.shtml

for 5 of the firms. Hmmm
If we can't get justice we need to toss the baby out with the bathwater and throw all the bastards out. It would be nice if all of America could stop paying their health insurance premiums.

It's a lost decade in growth and education, for that matter. The Bush NCLB has set education back as far as he did our growth in savings/retirement funds...family financial security.

Why don't they get it?

all but one of the five insurers increased the number of people they covered through public insurance programs, including Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Plans (CHIP), and Medicare. This is part of a long-term plan by insurers to shift responsibility for covering millions of sick, older, or lower-income customers to taxpayer-funded government health programs. These programs have, in turn, been increasingly hiring the big insurers to manage their care...

And if Obama has his way, the gravy train is just getting started!

:patriot: