The myopia! In their misguided drive to squeeze every possible drop of profit from health care financing, health insurance companies are sealing their own doom with policies that restrict access to coverage. The latest comes from the American Medical News that reports companies intend to shrink their customer base if necessary to increase profits. From the story:
The nation’s largest publicly traded health plans say they don’t plan to temper premium increases for the sake of keeping members on their rolls — particularly not while they are under pressure from Wall Street over what it sees as their disappointing earnings. Wall Street analysts were shaken over the long-term prospects of the health plan business after bellwethers WellPoint and UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s two largest private-pay plans, reported less-than-expected profits from the first three months of this year.
While no plan said its overall membership has gone down, most say their risk-based commercial numbers—representing traditional employer health benefits—are declining or are not growing as quickly as anticipated. But health insurers say cutting premiums or reducing the rate of increase to keep customers would affect their bottom lines more than losing some members over premium hikes. “We will not sacrifice profitability for membership,” WellPoint President and CEO Angela Braly told analysts during a conference call.
Keep this up Ms. Braly, and you will sacrifice your company’s very existence.
People need access to health care. If the private companies continue to cherry pick and maximize short term profits at the expense of the viability of the very ocean in which they swim, they should not be surprised if they end up one day looking like a shark on a dock fish hook.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
