Decade-Long Profits Prevent Affordable Health Insurance
While the health care reform fight moves to the Senate, concerns over the cost of legislation are extremely important.
Supporters of reform say that affordable health insurance is within reach if waste in the health care industry is lessened.
They may have a point; a recent study shows that health care companies which are in the Standard & Poor’s 500 have, on average, tripled their profits in the last decade.
There were considerable losses in most economic markets during a 10-year period. Health care costs have, however, steadily increased since 2000 because of the need of having to visit a doctor or hospital whenever people get sick or injured.
These increased costs have really made health care insurance much less budget friendly for a lot of consumers.
The expensive health plans have increased the profits of the health insurance companies. Figures show that the six health insurance companies which are listed in the S&P 500 have made over $10 billion profit.
These massive profits definitely make health insurance more expensive. But insurance companies actually are the least profitable sectors in the health care industry. The profits they have right now are less than expected because the sales of health insurance have increased at the same time as the profits have.
If the insurers aren’t mainly responsible for the shortage of affordable health insurance in the U.S., who is? Medical suppliers and medical device makers saw the most growth over the past decade. The former saw their profits rise by 17% since 2000, and the latter had margins of 15%.
Pharmaceutical firms have also doubled their profits at the same time increased their margins to as high as 25%. These industries mentioned are the ones responsible for advances in medicine. However, they have also brought on the increase in insurance prices.
So, what can we do? The health care reform bill could help the health care industry lower the price of insurance costs since price control is probably not going to happen.
If health insurance companies don’t need to pay exorbitant rates, then the availability of economical health insurance will be abundant and this is for the majority of their services and supplies.