Can a healthcare company CEO be a nice human ? Because for me the principle of the company is good I guess. i’m not american and most of our health expenses are handled by my country so I’m not USAn enough to understand.
The way health insurance works is we (or more likely our employer) pay them, then when we go to the doctor they pay (some of) the bill. So, if you want to maximize profit as the insurer, you would find any way you can to not do the bill paying part.
To achieve that level of wealth and maintain that kind of position, you must be willing to exploit people. It is a system that self-selects for the worst kinds of people that care about personal enrichment above everything else. It doesn’t really matter how they treat people to their face.
The ACA (Obamacare) requires that health insurance companies spend at minimum 80% of their revenue on paying out claims, meaning profit is only what’s left over from the remaining 20% after all other operating costs are addressed. They also need to reserve a certain portion of money to be available at hand for claims in case they exceed revenue for a period, similar to a bank. So unfortunately even a nonprofit health insurance organization is going to have high costs to its members simply because medical expenses are so high in America.
It IS possible to have an ethical for profit health insurance company, but difficult.
The ceo/board has an obligation to maximise profit for shareholders, there is such a thing as a “minority shareholder lawsuit” so even if you control 90% of the shares, if 10% of the shareholders decide that you arent acting to make them as much money as possible they can still sue. There are ways around this like having the companies mission statement be “95% of premiums will be paid out as customer claims.” Or similar. Making their money by having a larger market share or by vertical integration.
Can a healthcare company CEO be a nice human ? Because for me the principle of the company is good I guess. i’m not american and most of our health expenses are handled by my country so I’m not USAn enough to understand.
The way health insurance works is we (or more likely our employer) pay them, then when we go to the doctor they pay (some of) the bill. So, if you want to maximize profit as the insurer, you would find any way you can to not do the bill paying part.
tldr, their job is to kill people for profit.
To achieve that level of wealth and maintain that kind of position, you must be willing to exploit people. It is a system that self-selects for the worst kinds of people that care about personal enrichment above everything else. It doesn’t really matter how they treat people to their face.
The ACA (Obamacare) requires that health insurance companies spend at minimum 80% of their revenue on paying out claims, meaning profit is only what’s left over from the remaining 20% after all other operating costs are addressed. They also need to reserve a certain portion of money to be available at hand for claims in case they exceed revenue for a period, similar to a bank. So unfortunately even a nonprofit health insurance organization is going to have high costs to its members simply because medical expenses are so high in America.
Yes, there are some not-for-profit healthcare organizations that make more money when members are healthy. This is the best model for people.
It IS possible to have an ethical for profit health insurance company, but difficult.
The ceo/board has an obligation to maximise profit for shareholders, there is such a thing as a “minority shareholder lawsuit” so even if you control 90% of the shares, if 10% of the shareholders decide that you arent acting to make them as much money as possible they can still sue. There are ways around this like having the companies mission statement be “95% of premiums will be paid out as customer claims.” Or similar. Making their money by having a larger market share or by vertical integration.
It could be done ethically, but it wont be.