Dumber Than Usual

Keith Olbermann decries the lies and dishonesty with which Conservatives attack health care reform, and then he does a segment comparing the health insurance industry to casino gambling, says that health insurance companies “already make almost twenty cents profit on every dollar you pay in premiums,” and that they now want to collude with Congress to make you provide them with 35% margin of profit.

Keith Olbermann has demonstrated many times that he is no mental giant, but even for him this is dim-witted. The proposal is that individuals should pay 35% of costs out of pocket, and that insurance companies should insure 65%, basing premiums on that 65% which they are covering. The statement, and the stated percentages, have nothing directly to do with profits. The insurance companies are saying that, if caps and exclusions are going to be eliminated, then the deductibles and copays need to be increased.

I don’t necessarily agree with such a plan, but it doesn’t equate to them asking for 35% profit, and I would like to see him document his claim that they “already make almost twenty cents profit on every dollar you pay in premiums.” The documentation that I have been able to find shows the industry making well under 10% in all cases.

Aetna: 4% in 2009, down from 6% in 2008.
UnitedHealth: 6.6% in 2009, down slightly from 7% in 2008.
WellPoint: unclear but appears to be 7% in 2009, up from 4% in 2008.

It took me less than ten minutes to find these figures, publicly available in the annual reports which are filed by the companies with the SEC and are shown on the websites of those companies.

I favor health care reform, or health insurance reform, but lets use honest arguements to promote it.