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Health insurance company profits are capped at 20% of the premiums they take in[1]. So not only because they _can_, but they actively want healthcare costs to g

Health insurance company profits are capped at 20% of the premiums they take in[1]. So not only because they _can_, but they actively want healthcare costs to go up, because that's the only way they get to increase their profits. https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/rate-review/ https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/rate-...

throw0101a 6y ago
Meanwhile in Germany and Switzerland there are non-profit health insurance companies: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany#Health_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany#Health_i... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland#Compulsory_coverage_and_costs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland#Comp... Both usually rank quite well in various international comparisons. The US has a great healthcare system, but abysmal health insurance.
- tshaddox 6y ago
  Lots (perhaps most?) of US health insurance providers also non-profit.
  - Retric 6y ago
    Are lot of tiny non profit insurance companies exist generally created by companies or religious groups to run their insurance. However, in terms of the overall market share it’s under 1/3 and significantly less when you look at companies that accept anyone.
  - sangnoir 6y ago
    Lot's of Hospital Systems in the US are ostensibly non-profit, but the number of Administrators & executives (and their salaries and bonuses) have been going way up
m16ghost 6y ago
This doesn't appear to be true. There are other ways for health insurance companies to increase profits. The US Health insurance industry spends on average, 86% of premiums on healthcare costs[0], which means they can increase their profits by reducing those costs, since 80% is the floor. 12% of the left over premium gets spent on operating expenses, which leaves the industry with a 2-3% profit margin[0]. So another way of increasing profits is for the companies to become more efficient. These figures are for the industry as a whole. Any individual company will have other avenues of increasing profit, such as growing their market share. [0] https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2019%20Health%20Industry%20Commentary_0.pdf https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/20...

throw0101a 6y ago

Meanwhile in Germany and Switzerland there are non-profit health insurance companies: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany#Health_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany#Health_i... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland#Compulsory_coverage_and_costs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland#Comp... Both usually rank quite well in various international comparisons. The US has a great healthcare system, but abysmal health insurance.

tshaddox 6y ago
Lots (perhaps most?) of US health insurance providers also non-profit.
- Retric 6y ago
  Are lot of tiny non profit insurance companies exist generally created by companies or religious groups to run their insurance. However, in terms of the overall market share it’s under 1/3 and significantly less when you look at companies that accept anyone.
- sangnoir 6y ago
  Lot's of Hospital Systems in the US are ostensibly non-profit, but the number of Administrators & executives (and their salaries and bonuses) have been going way up

m16ghost 6y ago

This doesn't appear to be true. There are other ways for health insurance companies to increase profits. The US Health insurance industry spends on average, 86% of premiums on healthcare costs[0], which means they can increase their profits by reducing those costs, since 80% is the floor. 12% of the left over premium gets spent on operating expenses, which leaves the industry with a 2-3% profit margin[0]. So another way of increasing profits is for the companies to become more efficient. These figures are for the industry as a whole. Any individual company will have other avenues of increasing profit, such as growing their market share. [0] https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2019%20Health%20Industry%20Commentary_0.pdf https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/20...