posted March 16, 2010 12:26 PM         

i don't really care if you call me a liar. or the source. you have done that plenty and it has never been true in the past nor is it true now. one of the ways the insurance companies cover their arses is to negotiate down the prices, which spurs the hospitals on to raise the prices so they will get more return on their input.

posted March 16, 2010 11:51 PM         

Or, are you all blither, blather, bs and blah, blah, blah?

Not only are you misrepresenting terms and conditions found in insurance policies; you don't understand that an insured who has a medical condition covered by the policy continues to get treatment paid for by the insurance company up to the limits of coverage....even if the insurance company cancels the policy. They're still on the hook.

You've been listening to the lying O'Bomber, The One, The Messiah and O'Bomber is lying through his teeth to the American people.

Health insurance companies make about 2.5% to 5% net profit on their business. That's a fact.

FACT CHECK: Health insurer profits not so fat
Oct 25, 8:37 AM (ET)
By CALVIN WOODWARD

THE NUMBERS:

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.

HealthSpring, the best performer in the health insurance industry, posted 5.4 percent. That's a less profitable margin than was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach and Molson and Coors beers.
http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum26/HTML/000230.html

In summary katatonic; you and O'Bomber are full of it.

posted March 17, 2010 12:04 AM         

are you saying you don't listen to obama? how can you judge him then, and his dastardly lies and plots to destroy america? i don't listen to him all that much. i have never once quoted him, as you do, but you think i am soaking it up. it's you who's obsessed with the great leader of the great country ...

i'm going to submit your name as a candidate and get you started on your way, 'kay?

posted March 17, 2010 09:22 AM         

Your argument...and O'Bomber's that health insurance companies are ripping off consumers, making robber baron like profits and refusing to honor the terms of their policies is pure blither, blather, bloviation and bullshiiit. Oh, and in America, we call it lying.

When the health insurance industry average net profit is 2.2% and the highest net profit in the group is about 5%, they're not ripping anyone off.

posted March 17, 2010 11:49 AM         

here is one of the reasons the insurance cos do not post huge profits, and carlson is one of the WORst paid ceos in the business!!

"James Carlson - AMERIGROUP

Total Compensation: $5,292,546

Details: Despite a lawsuit regarding Medicaid fraud that cost the Illinois plan $225 million, Carlson himself earned roughly $2 million more than he did in 2007. All aspects of his compensation increased in 2008, from his base salary (up from $608,000 to just over $761,000) to his non-equity incentive plan compensation (up to about $2.8 million from $1.98 million a year ago). Carlson's bonus also grew quite a bit, going from $225,000 in 2007 to $520,312 in 2008; much of that amount was based on long term incentive program goals being met.

Carlson's "other compensation," which nearly tripled (going from about $7,000 to just over $20,000), included his employer 401(k) contribution, life insurance premiums, an executive health screening, flight services and a medical insurance stipend...

Ron Williams - Aetna

Total Compensation: $24,300,112

Details: Williams earned $24,300,112 in total compensation for 2008, with more than half of that ($13,537,365) coming from option awards. He also received an additional $6,456,630 in stock awards to go along with his base salary of $1,091,764.

Personal use of a corporate aircraft and vehicle, as well as financial planning and 401(k) company matches added up to $101,487 for Williams"
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735411/-Health-insurance-industry-CEO-salary-survey,-stay-calm-for-this

posted March 17, 2010 12:00 PM         

H. Edward Hanway - CIGNA
Total Compensation: $12,236,740
5-Year Compensation Total
$78.31 mil~Forbes

Angela Braly - WellPoint
Total Compensation: $9,844,212

Dale Wolf - Coventry Health Care
Total Compensation: $9,047,469

quite a dip from 2007 where total compansation was 14,480,000

posted March 17, 2010 12:06 PM         

if 250 million people spend just $1000 each on insurance per year (and very few get off that cheap!) that equals 250 billion dollars.

posted March 17, 2010 12:43 PM         

No need to take any risk whatsoever. No need to actually work. This is the net profit margin of insurance companies.

I don't hear anyone complaining about the net profit ratios of...say Google or any of the other corporations whose profit margins are or were near 20%.

Leftists need a whipping boy to lie about to pass the most radical takeover of the "private economy" in US history.

One of the problems with leftists is that they don't understand business or the profit motive for risking money.

That's the main reason they destroy every economy over which they gain control.

Another problem with leftists is that they're envious and attempt class warfare. They'd rather see everyone broke and destitute, dependent on government to feed, cloth and house them...than for anyone to make a profit on hard work and the proper application of their capital.

As for me, I don't give a rat's ass what anyone is making as a CEO. That's a matter between CEO's and their corporate shareholders. It's none of my business and none of yours. It's also one of the smallest items on the balance sheet of any large corporation.

As an investor, I expect a high level of competence on the part of management...including CEO's of any company in which I buy shares. Then, it's my business but not before. When CEO's and upper corporate management do not produce a profit or enough profits to drive the share price of their stock up, one of two things happen. I vote to remove them at stockholders meeting or sell my stock on any upswing in share price.

That's the American way but it's the way leftists, mostly accidential Americans, don't understand. What they understand is envy and greed on their part in thinking everyone owes them a living taken from the pockets of producers.

posted March 17, 2010 01:40 PM         

Though it's not a per-diem per se.

posted March 17, 2010 01:43 PM         

and i don't hear of anyone HAVING to give thousands a year to google in order to maintain the ability to go to the hospital.

apples and oranges again!!

if they want to pay that kind of money to their ceo's you're right its their business. but then to turn around and complain about the LOW profit margin when it is actually in the billions is ... HOGWASH!

and to pay the same kind of bonus to the people who rode their companies into the bloody sunset - does that make economic sense? when was the last time you got millions for running your enterprise into the ground? please, rationalize that!

you seem to be missing the point that despite the so-called capitalist MO, it has become unofficially mandatory to pay these guys if you want healthcare on a regular basis.

and the fact that most of the big corporations are no longer american, in fact have been shipping those profits overseas for decades, doesn't seem to bother you either. lets just accept everything at face value shall we? there's a plan. we can keep telling ourselves that the private sector has some allegiance to america (or any other country for that matter), that a nincompoop like sarah palin can bring them to heel because she wheedled a few dollars per alaskan head out of the oil cos in exchange for the most expensive energy on earth...and that obama is a socialist too.

and perhaps we can also swallow the logical jump of the conservative gentleman who equates allowing same-sex marriage in massachussetts with legalizing bestiality!

what a wonderful world it would be...