Originally posted by tony mads usa:
Bill ... those are interesting numbers... we often see profit figures shown in $$$ - such as ABC OIl company had $10 billion in profits, but rarely do we see the profit margin shown.... with all the problems of running a business, is it wrong to try to achieve a profit margin of 3.4% or even higher? ...(Not to change direction of this thread, but as a side note, I find it interesting when people complain about 'big business' making big profits, but LOVE it when those profits show up in their 401K or other investment portfolio.)
It is interesting that I quite recently have spoke to two gentleman from Germany and one from England and all three said that they felt the US system was better than what they had in their country.
I understand that there are people in the US who flat out cannot afford health care, but I also see the 'uninsured' numbers increased by people who will have the latest HD flat screen tv, the newest and best 'do-it-all telephone with costly monthly charges, etc. etc, and yet NOT have health care ...
What I can't understand is why health care in the US would have to have so much bureaucracy that it would cost billions to trillions of dollars !!!
t. 
A friend of mine is a health systems researcher who've I've been corresponding with regularly. Also, I should say my Wife Patty is very close to graduating with her Masters of Nursing...she'll be a CNS Certified Nurse Specialist with a specialty in Adult Care focusing on Pain Mgt. (I've learned more about medicine and our health systems in the last year than I ever could've imagined, lol...
Anyway, Dr. Aaron Carroll wrote "Its not wrong that they make money, its HOW they make it. Insurance Co's. can only make $$$ in two basic ways. 1) Covering healthy people who need little or less expensive care and 2) Not paying for care. This is as much economic forces as it is moral ones. As a member of a free market based industry, these Ins. Co's compete for the available dollars. No one begrudges them for that. But when they compete-they get better at 1) Not covering sick people and 2) Not paying for care. That's not good for a health care system. That’s the real problem. It’s the amount spent on underwriting, claims review, advertising, and – yes – executive salaries that we could do without.
As to how they still make money in these difficult times? Well, it turns out that many people are delaying care because they can’t afford the co-pays or co-insurance. Insurance companies run on such tight margins that even small delays like this can result in pretty impressive increases in revenues, which can compensate for lost customers and premiums as people lose their jobs and insurance."
You can read more of Dr. Aaron Carroll's work at his blog:
http://mdcarroll.com/ ------------------
Bill in Dayton
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