much higher profit margins That is an entirely worthless metric. Pharma and for-profit hospitals benefit from the insurance companies' perverse incentives to

much higher profit margins That is an entirely worthless metric. Pharma and for-profit hospitals benefit from the insurance companies' perverse incentives to keep costs high. Higher cost for care means that the insurance companies can jack up the premiums to maintain their legally allowable margin. A 20% slice of a bigger pie is a larger amount than a 20% slice of a smaller pie after all. Even better, insurance companies can wag their fingers at the doctors and all of Ayn's acolytes will chime in about how for-profit care is here to save humanity from the evils of doctors. All the while the for-profit insurance companies are laughing to the bank because they're disincentivized from negotiating more reasonable prices. There's a reason Medicare pays conversion factors that are about a third to a half of what for-profit insurance companies are willing to pay. Even better, insurance companies have a captive audience. While the federal mandate to redirect your money to for-profit insurance was struck down, five states (and DC) have their own individual mandates.