4 ms·

The whole company made 3.6% margin last year. There isn't much room for either, even if the company suddenly became a non-profit.

by gruez 2y ago

galleywest200 2y ago
On what amount of revenue? How many billions is that 3.6%?
- gruez 2y ago
  How is the absolute amount relevant aside from being able to use shocking words like "BILLIONS" or whatever? 3.6% is 3.6%. It might work out to billions, but if it's split across hundreds/tens of millions of customers that's nothing. I doubt anyone is going to be placated if UNH provided 3.6% more healthcare to its customers.
  - relaxing 2y ago
    Because then you can start to ask questions about whether the absolute amount has been inflated to create and absolute amount of wealth for the executives and investors.
    - gruez 2y ago
      Do you really need a health insurance company's revenue/profits in absolute amounts to "start to ask questions" about the state of the US healthcare system? The fact that the US spends twice as much as its peers on healthcare should be enough justification. Moreover, it's unclear how you make any meaningful conclusion from the UNH's absolute financial numbers. UNH makes $32.3 in profit on $400.3 billion of revenue. Medicare on the other hand spent 1 trillion (!). It's unclear how anyone can look at those numbers and conclude whether they're too high, too low, or whether "the absolute amount has been inflated".
      - relaxing 2y ago
        It’s not that the absolute figures are all you need to know — you might want to look at how many more people Medicare serves for instance. It’s that without them you’ve got nothing to go on. I’m also inclined to agree it’s. as we spend more than peer nations, but there are also arguments to be made why we aren’t directly comparable. Differences in our demographics and lifestyle, etc. that affect the healthcare we consume.
nine_zeros 2y ago
>The whole company made 3.6% margin last year. Well, time to make -50% margin because they are breaching 100% margins of humans.
adgjlsfhk1 2y ago
The problem with this statement is that a lot of the reason healthcare costs so much is that insurance companies have a legally mandated max profit percentage, so they make deals with hospitals to make services more expensive in order for them to be able to take a higher amount of profit.
sundarurfriend 2y ago
Note that this is compared to 6% the previous year, the decrease partly due [1] to a security failure where they got ransomwared and may also have leaked people's info [2]. In absolute amounts, that's 22 billion in 2023 down to 14 billion in 2024. The company also holds assets worth ~300 billion, an increase of 26 billion compared to 2023. [3] --- [1] https://apnews.com/article/unitedhealth-unitedhealthcare-profit-brian-thompson-shooting-8ac445eb083e41d4f2e25b5d3ed80dc5 https://apnews.com/article/unitedhealth-unitedhealthcare-pro... [2] https://apnews.com/article/change-healthcare-cyberattack-unitedhealth-senate-9e2fff70ce4f93566043210bdd347a1f https://apnews.com/article/change-healthcare-cyberattack-uni... [3] https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/content/dam/UHG/PDF/investors/2024/2025-16-01-uhg-reports-fourth-quarter-results.pdf https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/content/dam/UHG/PDF/invest... [PDF WARNING]
dematz 2y ago
Their margin isn't the only opportunity. There's also their administrative costs, and the administrative costs they induce in everyone else (medical, software, legal, whatever) who has to deal with the complexity UHC adds.

The whole company made 3.6% margin last year. There isn't much room for either, even if the company suddenly became a non-profit.

by gruez 2y ago

The whole company made 3.6% margin last year. There isn't much room for either, even if the company suddenly became a non-profit.

galleywest200 2y ago

On what amount of revenue? How many billions is that 3.6%?

gruez 2y ago
How is the absolute amount relevant aside from being able to use shocking words like "BILLIONS" or whatever? 3.6% is 3.6%. It might work out to billions, but if it's split across hundreds/tens of millions of customers that's nothing. I doubt anyone is going to be placated if UNH provided 3.6% more healthcare to its customers.
- relaxing 2y ago
  Because then you can start to ask questions about whether the absolute amount has been inflated to create and absolute amount of wealth for the executives and investors.
  - gruez 2y ago
    Do you really need a health insurance company's revenue/profits in absolute amounts to "start to ask questions" about the state of the US healthcare system? The fact that the US spends twice as much as its peers on healthcare should be enough justification. Moreover, it's unclear how you make any meaningful conclusion from the UNH's absolute financial numbers. UNH makes $32.3 in profit on $400.3 billion of revenue. Medicare on the other hand spent 1 trillion (!). It's unclear how anyone can look at those numbers and conclude whether they're too high, too low, or whether "the absolute amount has been inflated".
    - relaxing 2y ago
      It’s not that the absolute figures are all you need to know — you might want to look at how many more people Medicare serves for instance. It’s that without them you’ve got nothing to go on. I’m also inclined to agree it’s. as we spend more than peer nations, but there are also arguments to be made why we aren’t directly comparable. Differences in our demographics and lifestyle, etc. that affect the healthcare we consume.

nine_zeros 2y ago

>The whole company made 3.6% margin last year. Well, time to make -50% margin because they are breaching 100% margins of humans.

adgjlsfhk1 2y ago

The problem with this statement is that a lot of the reason healthcare costs so much is that insurance companies have a legally mandated max profit percentage, so they make deals with hospitals to make services more expensive in order for them to be able to take a higher amount of profit.

sundarurfriend 2y ago

Note that this is compared to 6% the previous year, the decrease partly due [1] to a security failure where they got ransomwared and may also have leaked people's info [2]. In absolute amounts, that's 22 billion in 2023 down to 14 billion in 2024. The company also holds assets worth ~300 billion, an increase of 26 billion compared to 2023. [3] --- [1] https://apnews.com/article/unitedhealth-unitedhealthcare-profit-brian-thompson-shooting-8ac445eb083e41d4f2e25b5d3ed80dc5 https://apnews.com/article/unitedhealth-unitedhealthcare-pro... [2] https://apnews.com/article/change-healthcare-cyberattack-unitedhealth-senate-9e2fff70ce4f93566043210bdd347a1f https://apnews.com/article/change-healthcare-cyberattack-uni... [3] https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/content/dam/UHG/PDF/investors/2024/2025-16-01-uhg-reports-fourth-quarter-results.pdf https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/content/dam/UHG/PDF/invest... [PDF WARNING]

dematz 2y ago

Their margin isn't the only opportunity. There's also their administrative costs, and the administrative costs they induce in everyone else (medical, software, legal, whatever) who has to deal with the complexity UHC adds.