It never fails to absolutely fucking stagger me, the shit we let insurance companies feed us and never even question. I don’t mean that I automatically subscribe to the idea that everybody who works for an insurance company everywhere is out to utterly screw you. I mean that it’s beyond my comprehension that during all our national wankery about “tort reform” and “prescription drug costs” nobody ever advances the fucking basic idea that maybe, just maybe, these companies maketoo much fucking money.
There are now two superproviders that increasingly dominate the
for-profit healthcare field. One is UnitedHealth, which capped a long
series of acquisitions with the 2005 purchase of Pacificare for some $8
billion. In 2006 United’s health services revenues reached an
astounding $64 billion, and its medical enrollment rose to about 28
million individuals.The other giant is Wellpoint Inc., created
through the blockbuster 2004 merger of Anthem Inc. and Wellpoint Health
Network, formerly Blue Cross of California. Wellpoint later spent $6.5
billion to acquire WellChoice, the publicly traded parent of New York’s
Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. By 2006 Wellpoint controlled the Blues
in 14 states, had some 34 million members and took in annual revenues
of about $52 billion.The second tier consists of Aetna (2006
revenues and members, respectively: $25 billion and 15 million), Humana
($21 billion and 11 million), Cigna ($16 billion and 9 million) and
Health Net ($13 billion and 7 million).
The real problem with class warfare is the severe lack of it.
A.