chop2chip
Well-known member
Spare me the bonafides. Sharing that chart was a clear dog whistle.
Why Academics Leftists and Elitists Need to Treat Ordinary Americans With Respect
- Thread starter nsacpi
- Start date
Spare me the bonafides. Sharing that chart was a clear dog whistle.
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
The point isnt that Luigi should go free and more that the victim wasnt a paragon of virtue either. To me if you make your living off the suffering of others I just dont have much sympathy when someone with a gun comes looking for you.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
eh...the data are what they are...they help explain some of the public reaction
chop2chip
Well-known member
Public hates insurance companies and CEOs. Shocking development
While I’m firmly in the “don’t go do or celebrate murders” camp, I do think it’s worthwhile to understand why people hate insurance companies and CEOs rather than just dismissing it as a known fact. You can be against violence while attempting to understand why such a concerning percentage of people supported it. Someone in this thread suggested Leftists and Universities are poisoning people’s brains into being vigilante apologists, but I happen to find this data more instructive than that.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
I would say profit margin is irrelevant to an assessment of whether a company treats its customers badly or has a business model that involves reducing competition for its products
But if we are to look at United Health Group's profits there are a lot of data out there besides four quarters
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/UNH/unitedhealth-group/gross-profit
They've done very well pursing a business model that has been facilitated by lax antitrust enforcement. The public would well advised to direct its anger at our elected representatives who have allowed this to happen on a grand scale during the past 25 years. Not just in the healthcare sector, but throughout the economy.
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chop2chip
Well-known member
In this context, treating customers “badly” is denying their claims (without providing context whether these were denied justifiably). Certainly relevant to the question whether UHC is allowed to operate at a slim profit margin.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
some more dog whistle material to chew on
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/ins...ing-new-heights/ar-AA1vGZfP?ocid=BingNewsSerp
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/ins...ing-new-heights/ar-AA1vGZfP?ocid=BingNewsSerp
acesfull86
Well-known member
Ridiculous premise
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
it seems evident this is a rhetorical question
but since you've asked it several times...there is no justification for Thompson's murder
I think the public reaction is worth trying to understand. The public is right to be angry. I think its anger is misdirected. Companies should do whatever they can get away with to maximize profits. It is up to us as a society to set and enforce the rules for what is legal in the pursuit of profits.
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cajunrevenge
Well-known member
It's a fact of life. Not saying it's right but there's a long history of vigilante justice. You can say it's wrong all you want but we constantly glorify it in movies and media. People naturally root for them.
I don’t actually understand the use of profit margin percents when people talk about the insurance industry. Over the past 10 years, UHC’s annual revenue has risen from $130 billion to $370 billion. That they aren’t hoarding all their increased revenue in a Scrooge McDuckian pool of gold isn’t really helping the fact that they’re bringing in triple what they were before. Undoubtedly some of the anger toward UHC or insurance companies is misplaced, as it’s the overall healthcare system that is driving costs up as insurance companies and providers fight each other to make as much profit as possible, but it’s not unexpected that people are going to side with the people actually saving them than the people footing part, but not all of the bill.
My point ultimately isn’t to help justify violence. Especially because Thompson was just a man doing his ****ing job. If he advocated for less profit for UHC, he’d be fired and they’d find a new CEO. But again, people are stupid. You can try to understand a problem without supporting that problem. If you don’t understand *why* people embraced senseless violence, you’re less able to help them see why they shouldn’t. Just saying “UHC has low profit margins, what’s the big deal?” won’t persuade someone that thinks insurance companies and executives are evil, because they’ll just look at a different number and go back to thinking what they already did.
To be fair, that’s oversimplified more than it is wrong. I recognize insurance companies also fund all the medical care, but the payment breakdown between insurers and those they insure is a zero-sum game and additional healthcare costs moving to the patients is going to inevitably add to their suffering.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
seems like we have a multitude of problems: low profits at United Heathcare and insane amounts of government money directed toward it
meanwhile back at the ranch our regulators waved through the following:
1) 1994, UHC acquires Ramsey-HMO
2) 1995, UHC acquires MetraHealth Companies
3) 1996, UHC acquires Healthwise of America
4) 1997, UHG acquires Health Partners of Arizona
5) 2001, one of their subsidiaries merges with LifeMark Health Plans
I could go on and on. A merger or acquisition per year almost for the past 30 years. We have CEOs in the healthcare industry on record as holding up the airline industry as the model they are driving toward.
The public needs to wake up. Every business out there would love to be able to buy its way out of having competitors. It has been happening on a grand scale for the past 25 years. We pay a very big price for this. We can either take a passive agressive approach and applaud vigilantes or we make this an issue we hold our elected representatives accountable for.
meanwhile back at the ranch our regulators waved through the following:
1) 1994, UHC acquires Ramsey-HMO
2) 1995, UHC acquires MetraHealth Companies
3) 1996, UHC acquires Healthwise of America
4) 1997, UHG acquires Health Partners of Arizona
5) 2001, one of their subsidiaries merges with LifeMark Health Plans
I could go on and on. A merger or acquisition per year almost for the past 30 years. We have CEOs in the healthcare industry on record as holding up the airline industry as the model they are driving toward.
The public needs to wake up. Every business out there would love to be able to buy its way out of having competitors. It has been happening on a grand scale for the past 25 years. We pay a very big price for this. We can either take a passive agressive approach and applaud vigilantes or we make this an issue we hold our elected representatives accountable for.
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nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
all the mergers and acquisitions on United Health Groups wikipedia page since 2000
2000s
In 2001, EverCare, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, merged with LifeMark Health Plans[12] In 2002, UnitedHealth Group acquired GeoAccess and Medicaid insurance company AmeriChoice.[13] In 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Mid Atlantic Medical Services, an insurer serving Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia.[14] Also in 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Golden Rule Financial, a provider of health savings accounts.[15] On July 21, 2003, Exante Bank started operating in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a Utah state-chartered industrial loan corporation. It changed its name to OptumHealth Bank in 2008[16] and to Optum Bank in 2012.
In April 2004, UnitedHealth Group acquired Touchpoint Health Plan, a Wisconsin health plan.[17] In July 2004, the company acquired Oxford Health Plans.[18]
In December 2005, the company acquired PacifiCare Health Systems.[19] It agreed to divest parts of PacifiCare's commercial health insurance business in Tucson, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado to satisfy antitrust regulator concerns, and also agreed to end its network access agreement with Blue Shield of California. The Tucson business was sold to Cigna.[20] The company acquired Prescription Solutions, another pharmacy benefits manager, as part of its acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems.[21] This business was later rebranded OptumRx.
In February 2006, the company acquired John Deere Health Care.[22][23][24] The same year, William W. McGuire stepped down as chairman and director due to his involvement in the employee stock options scandal.[25] He was replaced by CEO Stephen Hemsley who had served as president and COO and a member of the board of directors. McGuire's exit compensation from UnitedHealth was anticipated to be $1.1 billion,[26] but he only received $618 million after returning $420 million in stock options.[27]
In February 2008, the company acquired Sierra Health Services for $2.6 billion.[28] As part of the transaction, to obtain regulatory approval, 25,000 customers were sold to Humana.[29] In July 2009, UnitedHealth Group agreed to acquire Health Net's Northeast licensed subsidiaries for up to $570 million in payments spread out over two years.[30]
2010s
Through 2010 and into 2011, senior executives of the company met monthly with executives of other health insurers to limit the effect of the health care reform law.[31]
In July 2010, Ingenix acquired Picis Clinical Solutions, Inc., a health information provider for the high-acuity areas of hospitals.[32][33]
In 2011, Logistics Health, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was acquired by OptumHealth.[34] In September 2014, the office buildings where LHI is based were sold to UnitedHealth Group for $45 million.[35][36]
In February 2012, the company acquired XLHealth, a sponsor of Medicare Advantage health plans with a primary focus on medicare recipients with special needs such as those with chronic illness and those eligible for Medicaid ("dual eligibles").[37] In October 2012, UnitedHealth Group and Amil Participações, one of the biggest Brazilian health insurance companies, completed the first phase of their merger.[38][39][40]
In February 2014, Optum secured a majority stake in the Washington, D.C.-based startup Audax Health.[41] Audax's CEO, Grant Verstandig, continued running the firm alongside COO David Ko.[41] In October 2014, Optum Health acquired the health services unit of Alere for $600 million cash.[42]
In March 2015, it was announced that CatamaranRx would be acquired by OptumRx.[43]
In April 2016, the company announced it was pulling out of all but a "handful" of state healthcare exchanges provided under Affordable Care Act and will continue to sell only in three states in 2017.[44][45]
In 2017, UnitedHealth's Optum unit acquired Rally Health,[46] a company started by Audax Health's executives.[47] Prior to acquisition, in 2015, UnitedHealth supported Rally Health as a majority investor,[48] and through enrolling 5 million UnitedHealth policy holders in Rally Health's flagship product, RallySM.[47][49][nt 1] The close relations between UnitedHealth, Audax Health and Rally Health follows a close personal relationship between Grant Vrestandig (Audax and Rally) and UnitedHealth's President and CFO at the time, David Wichmann.[50]
In June 2019, UnitedHealth's Optum division acquired Davita Medical Group from DaVita Inc. for $4.3 billion.[51][52][53] That year, the company also agreed to acquire Equian for $3.2 billion.[54][55][56][57] On June 19, 2019, UnitedHealth acquired the online patient community platform PatientsLikeMe for an undisclosed amount and it will be incorporated into UnitedHealth Group's research division.[58]
2020s–present
UnitedHealth announced in March 2022 that it would acquire LHC Group for $5.4 billion. The deal will expand its home health capabilities by combining LHC's services with UnitedHealth's Optum unit.[60]
In February 2022, UnitedHealth announced the acquisition of Change Healthcare, the largest health payments platform in the US, which the US Justice Department tried to block on antitrust grounds; the sale went through by September.
2000s
In 2001, EverCare, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, merged with LifeMark Health Plans[12] In 2002, UnitedHealth Group acquired GeoAccess and Medicaid insurance company AmeriChoice.[13] In 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Mid Atlantic Medical Services, an insurer serving Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia.[14] Also in 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Golden Rule Financial, a provider of health savings accounts.[15] On July 21, 2003, Exante Bank started operating in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a Utah state-chartered industrial loan corporation. It changed its name to OptumHealth Bank in 2008[16] and to Optum Bank in 2012.
In April 2004, UnitedHealth Group acquired Touchpoint Health Plan, a Wisconsin health plan.[17] In July 2004, the company acquired Oxford Health Plans.[18]
In December 2005, the company acquired PacifiCare Health Systems.[19] It agreed to divest parts of PacifiCare's commercial health insurance business in Tucson, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado to satisfy antitrust regulator concerns, and also agreed to end its network access agreement with Blue Shield of California. The Tucson business was sold to Cigna.[20] The company acquired Prescription Solutions, another pharmacy benefits manager, as part of its acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems.[21] This business was later rebranded OptumRx.
In February 2006, the company acquired John Deere Health Care.[22][23][24] The same year, William W. McGuire stepped down as chairman and director due to his involvement in the employee stock options scandal.[25] He was replaced by CEO Stephen Hemsley who had served as president and COO and a member of the board of directors. McGuire's exit compensation from UnitedHealth was anticipated to be $1.1 billion,[26] but he only received $618 million after returning $420 million in stock options.[27]
In February 2008, the company acquired Sierra Health Services for $2.6 billion.[28] As part of the transaction, to obtain regulatory approval, 25,000 customers were sold to Humana.[29] In July 2009, UnitedHealth Group agreed to acquire Health Net's Northeast licensed subsidiaries for up to $570 million in payments spread out over two years.[30]
2010s
Through 2010 and into 2011, senior executives of the company met monthly with executives of other health insurers to limit the effect of the health care reform law.[31]
In July 2010, Ingenix acquired Picis Clinical Solutions, Inc., a health information provider for the high-acuity areas of hospitals.[32][33]
In 2011, Logistics Health, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was acquired by OptumHealth.[34] In September 2014, the office buildings where LHI is based were sold to UnitedHealth Group for $45 million.[35][36]
In February 2012, the company acquired XLHealth, a sponsor of Medicare Advantage health plans with a primary focus on medicare recipients with special needs such as those with chronic illness and those eligible for Medicaid ("dual eligibles").[37] In October 2012, UnitedHealth Group and Amil Participações, one of the biggest Brazilian health insurance companies, completed the first phase of their merger.[38][39][40]
In February 2014, Optum secured a majority stake in the Washington, D.C.-based startup Audax Health.[41] Audax's CEO, Grant Verstandig, continued running the firm alongside COO David Ko.[41] In October 2014, Optum Health acquired the health services unit of Alere for $600 million cash.[42]
In March 2015, it was announced that CatamaranRx would be acquired by OptumRx.[43]
In April 2016, the company announced it was pulling out of all but a "handful" of state healthcare exchanges provided under Affordable Care Act and will continue to sell only in three states in 2017.[44][45]
In 2017, UnitedHealth's Optum unit acquired Rally Health,[46] a company started by Audax Health's executives.[47] Prior to acquisition, in 2015, UnitedHealth supported Rally Health as a majority investor,[48] and through enrolling 5 million UnitedHealth policy holders in Rally Health's flagship product, RallySM.[47][49][nt 1] The close relations between UnitedHealth, Audax Health and Rally Health follows a close personal relationship between Grant Vrestandig (Audax and Rally) and UnitedHealth's President and CFO at the time, David Wichmann.[50]
In June 2019, UnitedHealth's Optum division acquired Davita Medical Group from DaVita Inc. for $4.3 billion.[51][52][53] That year, the company also agreed to acquire Equian for $3.2 billion.[54][55][56][57] On June 19, 2019, UnitedHealth acquired the online patient community platform PatientsLikeMe for an undisclosed amount and it will be incorporated into UnitedHealth Group's research division.[58]
2020s–present
UnitedHealth announced in March 2022 that it would acquire LHC Group for $5.4 billion. The deal will expand its home health capabilities by combining LHC's services with UnitedHealth's Optum unit.[60]
In February 2022, UnitedHealth announced the acquisition of Change Healthcare, the largest health payments platform in the US, which the US Justice Department tried to block on antitrust grounds; the sale went through by September.
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This is also a heavy oversimplification, though I at least find it more compelling of an argument than leftists are teaching people that murder is rad.
What I find less compelling about that argument is it ignores that Republicans hold at least half the blame for the current situation. Whether it would be prudent or not, if Democrats didn’t have to compromise with Republicans on healthcare, there’s a greater chance that healthcare would be socialized. Taxes might be higher and care might be worse, but we wouldn’t be talking about the profit margins of UHC. Where I think the ACA did fail in a lot of respects is it failed to address the relationship between for-profit hospitals and for-profit insurers and instead aimed to legislate around it by subsidizing costs for consumers. Republicans have since taken steps to exacerbate those problems rather than fix or replace the law.