sits on the board of WellPoint. Congratulations on the 727% increase in profits this year alone. Denial of benefits really pays doesn't it?
From Jason Rosenbaum at Fire Dog Lake's Seminal:
Like the rest of Wall Street, WellPoint – one of the nation’s largest insurers, with 14 state Blue Cross brands in its portfolio – is having a banner year.
Today, WellPoint announced that profits jumped 727%. In the middle of the biggest recession in generations, WellPoint is raking in the cash hand-over-fist.
Why the jump? Turns out, last year WellPoint spent even less on actual health care than it did in 2008.
In 2008, it spent 83.6% of the premiums it took in on care – paying for doctors, drugs, and the like. In 2009, they spent only 82.6% of your money on your care. That seemingly small difference actually belies bigger discrepancies. An analysis by the Senate Commerce Committee [pdf] found that while WellPoint spends about 85% of every premium dollar on care in the large group market that big businesses can tap into, they spend as low as 73% of every dollar collected through individual plans, and 79% on small group plans purchased by small businesses.
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