I was excited about this prospect of paying lower health insurance and so to see how much in savings would be passed onto me I looked up Aetna, one of the larger publicly traded insurance companies out there. I did this on Reuters because Reuters will not only show you the profit margins for the company you are looking at, but the entire industry. That way you can see just how high of profit margins these companies have and how much you're going to save!!!
Wow! The past 12 months the insurance industry has had a profit margin of .94%. That's not 94% for those of you who majored in liberal arts and never took calculus, that's .94%, LESS THAN 1%.
Now I'll be kind and intellectually honest enough to admit the 5 year average has been 4% in the industry, but are you freaking kidding me? At maximum a savings of 4%?
And let us not kid ourselves kiddies, with the amazing efficiency of the government managing a health insurance plan, you damn well know it's going to gobble up more than that paltry 4% LIKELY COSTING YOU MORE THAN A PRIVATE HEALTH INSURER WOULD.
Oh, but it's not really about the cost, is it? It's the fact somebody else will be paying for it. And that's what this is all about. I just wish people would be intellectually honest about this.
1% or fight!
ReplyDeleteIt should also be noted that insurance companies get much of their earnings (or losses) from investments. It would be interesting to see what their margin is net of investment income.
ReplyDeleteYou know, every time I hear the leftists spouting off about obscene profits the insurance industry is getting, I always challenge them to tell me exactly what percent profit they actually make. To date, none of they can actually tell me, they are just convinced that whatever they are making it is too much.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, they have never turned that argument back around on me. Because until today, I did not have a reliable source for the information. Thanks for the tip!
Anyone with more than half a brain knows insurance companies have low margins. Not only that, they are subject to substantial risk.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing we even have insurance companies. People ought to send Christmas cards to their insurance companies every year.
Lots of people moan about their insurance company denying claims. My insurance companies have either overpaid my claims beyond my expectations or folded like a lawn chair when I yelled and screamed about denied claims or increased premiums. Same goes for credit card companies.
I worked for two insurance companies. Yes, they were jerks who tried to close claims quickly and settle at least cost, but the fraud of claimants was beyond belief!
Liberals don't understand relative measures. They only like headline making nominal measures with lots of zeros because they are a bunch of zeros.
Jaime brings up a decent point. Investments are part of operating activities of insurance companies. I looked at two income statements. For one insurance company, their interest, dividends, and gains was only 17% of revenues.
For the other company, insurance rendered a $400 million loss net of underwriting costs and their investments made $1.2 billion. So all the profits were from investments. But that was during a booming stock market in 2007. I doubt that company fared as well in 2008.
Some insurance companies make loans which would be part of operating activities.
Let's just say that insurance profits/losses are highly volatile.
What companies are included in the industry and sector columns? It's not exactly fair to balk at 1% without doing justice to whom is being counted...looks like Aetna (the company you were looking at) was 6% and 9% for the 5 years which is a reasonable margin to cut into, wouldn't you agree?
ReplyDeleteJosh,
ReplyDeleteDo you have an arts degree?
5 years @ 4.02% = 20.1%
Less last year 0.94% = 19.16%
Divide by 4 years = 4.79%
Not quite the 6-9%, is it?
Most insurance companies make 0 to a negative profit on underwriting, and it's their investment portfolio that keeps them afloat.
ReplyDeleteBut we all know what the end game is here.... price the insurance companies out of the market until there is only one provider left to save the day.
Wow. The Major has literally done everything in his life...
ReplyDeleteJosh you idiot,
ReplyDeleteAetna is just one company in the entire insurance industry. That's why you look at INDUSTRIAL AVERAGES to see what the average insurance company makes.
Amazing how you display intellectual dishonesty IMMEDIATELY focusing in on a company that has higher margins and then applying the rule to all insurance companies WHEN THE DATA SHOWS AETNA IS NOT THE NORM.
An no I wouldn't agree 6-9% savings is worth eliminating an entire industry
But again your idiocy shows in that you think by cutting into Aetna's profits you're going to save the entire US population 6-9% on health care WHEN IT'S JUST ONE OF MANY INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Do you study just basic 5th grade math? Seriously? do you know division and addition and just simple spacial reasoning?
I say this because it's true, not as an insult,
YOU ARE A MORON.
You shouldn't have the right to vote. You're an idiot. You can't see the gross failing of your inability to do BASIC math. And somehow you THINK you're a wiser, smarter voter than us?
It is NO wonder why Obama got elected. Idiotic American Idol watchers like you voted him in.
Your Canadian friends remind you that public health insurance can cut costs. Just look forward to your new best friends rationing and queuing.
ReplyDeleteSniff, Sniff! Insurance companies would have great profits if they weren't trying to sit in the lap of every congressman and senator in D.C. We have the best government that money can buy!
ReplyDelete