Affordable Health Insurance Hindered By Decade-Long Profits
There are worries over the cost of health care as the battle now moves on to the Senate. Proponents of reform claim that health insurance Wyoming is within reach if the health care costs are now decreased. They may have a good point there because recent studies show that these health companies have tripled their profits in the last decade.
This is during a 10-year period that has seen sizeable losses in most economic sectors. While it is sensible that the industry would be relatively resistant–after all, the demand for visiting a doctor or hospital doesn’t go away when the economy slumps–health care costs have soared since 2000, making health insurance less economical.
Health insurance companies are normally the ones getting profit from the expensive health care plans. So, there’s no doubt that they have gained a lot from this over the last decade. According to data, the six health insurance companies in the S&P 500 have made over $10 billion.
It would seem that these considerable profits are standing in the way of affordable health insurance. However, insurance companies are actually one of the least lucrative sectors of the health care industry. Their profits are less than expected, because sales of health insurance increased almost as much as profits.
If insurers are not the one responsible for shortage of cheap health insurance then who is? Medical device makers and medical suppliers have seen the most improvement in the past decade. The latter raised their profits by 15% while the former raised theirs by almost 17%.
Pharmaceutical firms have also doubled their profits at the same time increased their margins to as high as 25%. These industries mentioned are the ones responsible for advances in medicine. However, they have also caused the increase in insurance prices.
What can be done about this? Direct price controls are extremely unlikely, but regulations enacted as part of a health care reform bill could nudge the health care industry towards reducing its costs.
Affordable health insurance will be more plentiful if health insurers don’t need to pay exorbitant rates for the majority of their supplies and services.