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>Those greedy pigs have profit margins roughly the same as home improvement stores, textile-apparel clothing and slightly less than packaging and containers. E
by jbooth 16y ago
>Those greedy pigs have profit margins roughly the same as home improvement stores, textile-apparel clothing and slightly less than packaging and containers.
Except all of those things involve moving stuff around. Insurance is just bit flipping in the banks when you get down to it, paperwork at the absolute worst. They should be able to manage way lower margins, they're moving money on paper instead of goods. But they don't, because they're an entrenched industry which puts less competitive pressure on them.
However you're right in that soaking the insurance companies won't make up the gap. We need to get smarter and be more efficient. As a first step, why don't we just the other 6 members of the G7, since they deliver equivalent outcomes for much cheaper? I'm not a healthcare expert but the topline numbers say it all. Healthcare's killing us on all aspects of everyone's budget. There could still be a role for insurance companies, there is in europe.. let's just do what works.
- yummyfajitas 16y agoProfit margins are not generally dependent on the weight of the stuff you are moving around. It is mostly based on risk and competitiveness. Risk increases profit margin (see: software companies, drug companies), while competitiveness reduces it (see: retail). If there were no competitive pressure, why didn't insurance companies raise prices a lot higher? That's what ISPs did, resulting in a profit margin of 28%. As for copying the G7, which of the other 6 members of the G7 do you propose copying? And how will imposing their system in the US prevent the overuse of medical services? Do you think that Americans will say "our health care system is now just like France, maybe I better act like a Frenchman and not run to the doctor because I have the sniffles?"