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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInsurers Profit From Health Law They Fought
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-05/health-insurer-profit-rises-as-obama-s-health-law-supplies-revenue-boost.htmlInsurance 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."
The Bloomberg Government report is available only to subscribers, but Peter Gosselin provides the essence of his conclusions in the brief video available at the link above. Peter Gosselin discusses his report, "Despite Predictions, Health Insurers Prosper Under Overhaul" (5 minute video):
Comment by Don McCanne of PNHP: Peter Gosselin's Bloomberg Government report, "Despite Predictions, Health Insurers Prosper Under Overhaul," is further confirmation that, as long as we leave the private insurers in charge, they will always find a way to stick it to us, as we now witness a dramatic increase in insurers cornering taxpayer-financed health insurance programs- Medicare and Medicaid - not to mention the private plans that taxpayers purchase for government employees on all levels.
These trends are very healthy for the private insurance industry, but they're enough to make us sick.
Thaddeus Kosciuszko
(307 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)Useless overpaid insurance shill Karen Ignani wrote it, while all the insurance companies whined about it at the same time.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)SNIP
... the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), known colloquially as Obamacare. PPACA dictates that health insurers must spend at least $0.80 of every $1.00 in premiums collected on health care in the individual and small group markets, and $0.85 in the large group market.
SNIP
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/12/12/obamacare-mandate-kicking-insurance-agents-to-the-curb/
So, my guess is that the next time a report comes out their profits will be WAY DOWN.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)When they get a whole bunch of new and unwilling customers.
eridani
(51,907 posts)Insurance companies exist to fuck us over, and they are writing the rules for implementation pf PPACA.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Hardly surprising that they are writing the rules for implementing the rules.
The writing was on the wall in gigantic fluorescent neon letters when single payer advocates were locked out of the negotiations.
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)Why do you think that?
The most likely result over time is higher systemic cost, this is not a control. Certainly not by its self.
All they have to do is pay more of what they are billed or increase the allowable charges.
You also cannot disregard the level if influence and input the "stakeholders" had. They tied no millstones around their own necks and the cartel I think honestly believes the drug industry made out even better.
The bill is for the benefit of the existing profit centers, it is designed from root to perserve and entrench the insurance cartel and prevent any degree of socialization.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)but the piece state that there are a number of factors unrelated to the health care law that could be driving the profit increase. It does mention:
At the same time, quarterly revenue from Medicare, the $525 billion federal health program for the elderly and disabled, increased by one third, to $16.39 billion, for the four insurers that reported figures, the study shows. Medicaid revenue more than doubled to $4.11 billion.
The companies run managed-care plans for Medicare that may see revenue rise by $10 billion by 2015 as more baby boomers retire, industry analysts have said. The insurers also administer benefits for Medicaid, which is being expanded under the health-care law starting in 2014 to cover more uninsured people. States have turned to private plans to manage Medicaid caseloads and help control health spending.
<...>
What's even more interesting is this:
The Supreme Court will rule on the laws constitutionality this year and opponents of the law in Congress may target individual provisions in the overhaul for budget cuts, he said, Additionally, states may devise onerous rules for the way coverage is sold to uninsured Americans, he said.
The article reeks of an attempt to create the perception that the health care law is driving up profits (absurd) and turn opinion against it.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)The mandate was designed for their profit.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=96326
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)supplemental insurance is dirt cheap compared to what i was paying before when i worked. my insurance now is close to 200 a month with 0 deductible. overall savings from me being off my wife`s company plan is 100 dollars a month.
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)premium increases that are hurting so many people.
kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)Fixed it for ya.