The Associated Press posted an interesting piece revealing that the health insurance industry is far from the image that Democrats and other leftists want to present. Insurance companies are so often presented as rapacious, fat-cats ripping off all their customers and growing fat on profits. But the AP finds that reality does not quite fit the left-wing image.
In fact, the insurance industry makes far less profits than other industries. As the AP notes, the Hershey chocolate company even has a higher profit margin than health insurers.
Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That’s anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones.
Profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure. This partly explains why the credit ratings of some of the largest insurers were downgraded to negative from stable heading into this year, as investors were warned of a stagnant if not shrinking market for private plans.
Ooopsie! Looks like the image of the fat-cat insurance company is not so pat as the far left and their Democrat enablers want you to believe.
The AP goes on to prove that the health insurance industry brings in profits at a much, much lower level than that of other industries making absurd the claim that they are some of the richest industries of all.
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.
The railroads brought in a 12.6 percent profit margin. Leading the list: network and other communications equipment, at 20.4 percent.
Worse for the far left, the AP shows that profits for the health insurance companies did not grow exponentially during the Bush years as the left constantly claims. Profit margins grew at 8.8 percent between 2003 and 2008 with the margin never growing more than 8 percent between 2005 and 2008.
So what of America’s other industries?
The latest annual profit margins of a selection of products, services and industries: Tupperware Brands, 7.5 percent; Yahoo, 5.9 percent; Hershey, 6.1 percent; Clorox, 8.7 percent; Molson Coors Brewing, 8.1 percent; construction and farm machinery, 5 percent; Yum Brands (think KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell), 8.5 percent.
Looks like the health insurance industry is right in line with everybody else! No “obscene profits” at all.
A hardy congratulations goes to the AP for this report.
Tags: dailydose, The Winning Line
We need to let these crooks know they WILL NOT be allowed to steal our Liberty. Here is a great OP-ED piece by Rep Shadegg about how the Obamacare creeps have colluded with the Health Insurance lobby to force the Unconstitutional Individual Mandate down our throats:
http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWVjOWNkOGEwOGNkZTJkODJiNTkwODJlYTBjNzUyZWQ=
Key Quote:
“To give you some perspective, two weeks after Barack Obama was elected president, the country’s largest health insurance trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), came out in support of forcing all Americans to purchase health insurance (the individual mandate). In exchange for the promise of millions of new enrollees, some of the country’s biggest insurers agreed to the Democrats’ proposed regulation of their industry. Rather than fight the party with complete control of Washington, insurance companies understand that supporting the Democrats’ takeover will prove to be quite lucrative.
Despite the recent demonization of health-insurance companies, Nancy Pelosi, insurers and the Congressional Democrats are in near unanimous agreement when it comes to imposing their will on the American people. For example, consider the individual mandate which forces all Americans to buy a government-approved plan. Both Democrats and insurers support stiff penalties or even jail time for failure to comply with the mandate! The proof: Not a single Democrat has signed my resolution, H.Res. 796, opposing fines and jail time for the uninsured in any health-care-reform bill.
This is a stark contrast to President Obama’s statement in 2008, when he eloquently stated on the campaign trail that an individual mandate punishes those who cannot afford insurance. Not once but twice Obama said: “[H]ere are people who are paying fines and still can’t afford it, so now they’re worse off than they were. They don’t have health insurance, and they’re paying a fine.” Unfortunately, President Obama has now flip-flopped on his opposition to an individual mandate and supports it along with the powerful insurance industry.”
This is a CORRUPT BARGIN where a big and connected lobby lines its pocket and allow the socialist/statest to nationalize health care and seize an huge amount of POWER for the Federal government!
This cannot be allowed to stand if we are to remain a free and indpendent people!
We must work today and vote tommorow for ALL conservative candidates in NY, CA, NJ, and VA to send the statists a LOUD message that WE THE PEOPLE are STILL SOVERIGN!
Everyone needs to get to DC on the 4th to participate in REP Bachman’s rally and continue to fax, write, call, and email in opposition to this scam!
Sorry all Patriots that I have been behind on blogging/posting info the past week….
Trying to get caught up tonight on the newest Obamacare takeover happenings….
Looks the like the predictable “opposition” to the throw-away government option plan was put out today by Snowe and the usual moderate D types…..again, I think that was all show to scare the right and keep the left fired up…..Reid was just throwing it out there to appease the based, keep up maximum leverage on the R and special interests, and dropping it will allow Obama to swoop in and appear “Moderate”…..as I have said all along - this was nothing but a head fake to keep our eyes of the really damaging elements!
While its good that this “government option” scam is going to be killed off, its BY FAR not the most onerous provision in the Obamacare takeover….
The Unconstitutional Individual Mandate will erode our freedom and individual liberty and is just as surely a government HC takeover as the government option scam……we need to keep the pressure up and let our lawmakers both R and D know we still oppose this as well as the anti-competative “preexisting conditions” and “communtinty rating” mandates!
We need to let the know that we still see the Federal government takeover core is still in any so called reform bills – Individual Mandates, subsidies/taxes, and regulation….
Where does the HC power grab really stand?
I see it this way - we are in MORE danger then ever now. The left will push thru all the rest minus a government medical welfare entitlement plan and sold as “moderate compromise” because so many will be relieved to just see the government option go and not realzing that all the rest of Obamacare will destroy private HC and Health Insurnace…..as promised in 5-10 years…and so will go our econonmy, our politics will forever be statist dominated, and our individual liberties will be NO more!
We need to send the statists a message in upcoming elections but need to continue to call, fax, and email Congress as much as ever on HC!