When you think of big health care companies you probably think of brand names like CIGNA, Aetna, UnitedHealth or Humana. These days, when I hear “health care companies” I think of rabid angry liberals foaming at the mouth over the audacity of profit. Remember Hillary saying that she wants to “take those profits?”Remember when everyone was really angry last summer over “obscene” oil company profits? I wrote about this back then, and I need to revisit the topic thanks to the health care debate.
Brainiacs like Rachel Maddow will show you simple charts showing the big profit numbers that insurance companies generate. In the case of the oil companies they generated billions in profits. Insurance companies have generated millions in profits. But idiots like Maddow are focusing on profit, not profit margin. Profit is a sum total (or loss), it is how much money you have left after doing business. Profit margin is the ratio of what you have left versus how much you spent to generate those profits.
Last summer people wer quite upset at the oil companies, then shut the heck up when they learned that they were making a mer 3-4% on their money. Sure, they made billions, but they spent many billions more to generate those profits. This year the enemy is the big evil insurance industry. How does it compare to the oil industry?
- CIGNA: 9.69%
- Aetna: 4.00%
- United Health: 3.97%
- Humana: 3.57%
Hardly monstrous. In fact, CIGNA is the only company in the health care sector with a profit margin above 5%. It is an outlier. Hospitals average 3.5% profit, and Health Care Plans average 3.3%. (source) In fact, in the list of industry profit margins, the evil Bush/Cheney Health Care companies are #86. Oh my.. so scary.
What about other evil conservative-loving industries? Like big oil, the specific sector of Oil & Gas is evil, with an average profit margin in that industry of 9.7%. How do they sleep at night? What about Accident & Health Insurance companies? How does a profit margin of 3.8% sound? Wait, oil & gas drilling and exploration companies are double evil since they make money while destroying nature. They do alright with profit margins of 9.7%.
We now have two summers of highly publicized and well-documented liberal anti-profit angst to serve as the basis of my next point. If I follow the libtards mindset correctly, profits above 5% are obscene and should be redistributed or eliminated altogether. We’ve seen the video, we’ve heard the cries. The libtards have drawn this line in the sand. (sidebar: I love calling liberals “libtards.” They hate it when we use their own tactics against them, in this case, name calling.)
If you are a liberal and you can’t stand health care profits, perhaps you should give up your health care, and while you are at it, stop using products that generate even more profit. Which companies?
- Brewing companies average 25.9%
- Software companies average 22.7%
- Cigarette companies average 17.4%
- Wineries average 11.8%
- Domestic Telecommunications companies average 8.9%
- Home Health Care = 8.4%
- Personal Computer Manufacturers make 7.5%
- Footwear companies average 6.4%
- Evil Auto Parts stores? 5.8%
- Periodical Publishers (magazines) make 5.2%
What about specific companies? Are you libtards ready to give up any of these?
- Coke: 24.64%
- Hansen (Monster Energy Drinks): 19.08%
- Dr. Pepper/Snapple: 10.67
- Iconix: (London Fogg, Joe Boxer, Ocean Pacific, Waverly, Starter): 34.90%
- Coach: 18.75% (what do you expect when you spend $500 for a purse?)
- Popeye’s Chicken 17.93%
What is my point? Some companies will make massive profits because thy do massive amounts of business transactions. If 5% is too much profit for Humana or Exxon/Mobile, why isn’t Hillary Clinton legislating the confiscation of profits from Coke, Coach or Popeye’s? They are financially raping Americans far more severely than the insurance companies, right? So, if you are a good, non-hypocritical liberal able to live your life guilt free, be sure to give up that cigarette and coke during your work break, go ahead and sell your purse, and forget about picking up some chicken on the way home from work. Don’t bother snuggling up to a good magazine with a glass of wine. Forget about using that laptop. You can’t do any of these things because doing so supports obscene profits.
I hear Amish country is beautiful this time of year.
Hat tip to 1800blogger.com.
[...] The Audicity Of Profit [...]
This is a very limited perspective. Examining a company purely on profit is not informative. I am more interested in examining the quality of coverage, consumer satisfaction, and the policies and motives behind denial of coverage. That’s the crux of this whole issue.
So many people think they have great health insurance. That is, until they need it.
You conveniently skipped over:
#3 Healthcare Facilities 24.6%
#7 Drug Manufacturers – Major 16.5%
You’re totally missing the point in regards to the healthcare debate. I’m not against companies making money. I’m for it! However, choosing who lives and who dies based on profit is wrong. Anyone who is anti-abortion should feel this way, too! A life, a potential at life, no matter how grim, should be given. Not simply because it’s inconvenient for shareholders.
The real argument and the reality is that, because these companies are for-profit, and their profit margins are so small, the insurance companies have *motive* and intent, to deny coverage. There are numerous cited examples by insurance company employees, where clients/customers were denied drugs or treatment for monetary reasons. You don’t have to be a liberal to see that…you simply have care about more than yourself. What we have now, sucks, and it’s got to change. I’d rather start with something that fixes the worst parts and then move forward than do nothing and let my fellow Americans’ lives hang in the balance for a few bucks.
thanks for visiting and commenting Nathan.
Actually, I hadnt noticed #3, because it is a REIT, not a health care company. a REIT is a real estate investment trust, it has nothing to do with the health care companies themselves, just the value of the buildings that they own or lease. There are many different types of REITs.
Drug companies make good returns, I’d be happy with 16% any day of the week. But my point is that many liberals are whining about profits, not about the actual problems that we face.
Bottom line: There is no chance at true healthcare reform that matters to the public unless the lawyers are challenged and we get true tort reform. Billions and billions of dollars are wasted on frivolous and useless lawsuits, and the consumer is the one that pays the bill. But that will never happen because Obama is a lawyer, and he recieved a massive amount of donations from lawyers.
As to denial of coverage, insurance companies already do it, and so will the government. Nothing will change, except the shape of the insurance industry.
Does anyone reading this not realize that a low-balled government plan will bankrupt many insurance companies, cause millions to lose their coverage and many to lose their jobs? What will the END RESULT of this legislation be? Nobody cares to think about that because they are all tied up in the emotion of the goal, not the mechanics of actually getting it done.