> But, profits cannot be damned, at least not if you plan on being a going concern. At some point, the companies need to make a profit otherwise they go out of business and cannot provide any healthcare at all.
More than a handful of the BCBS health insurance companies run as non-profits. Other countries find a way to make it work without shoveling money into the gaping maw of retirement and pension funds. Hell, even profits are fine. No one expects the people at these companies to work for free. They just expect to receive coverage when they have it deemed medically necessary by a doctor. If that means that c-suiters make a max of $500k a year and that the institutional investors have to kick rocks, that's what that means.
> My point is not that UNH is a sterling example of healthcare service but to point out that the narrative justifying the public outrage is not really logically coherent or supported by evidence.
We have type one diabetics rationing their insulin to the point that they die, while the people who run the companies that are supposed to help cover the price of said insulin make millions of dollars in compensation per year. The American male has a median lifetime earnings of $1.8 million. This isn't logically incoherent or not supported by evidence; if you have a pulse and have looked at American news over the last 15 years, you'll have seen stories about people being screwed by their insurers, sometimes to the point of literal death.
> If you have private insurers, they will need to make profit.
See above.
> Also, public healthcare is not the panacea that it seems to be promoted as. Healthcare is expensive and at some point, limits will be placed to avoid bankrupting the system.
No one's suggesting it's perfect, just that it's better than having profligate executives and major shareholders insult your intelligence by telling you they just don't have the money to cover your claim for prescriptions and necessary procedures after you paid the cost of a decent used car in premiums over the last year. Even wait times seen in socialized systems could be tolerable to those who otherwise would not get to see a doctor.
More than a handful of the BCBS health insurance companies run as non-profits. Other countries find a way to make it work without shoveling money into the gaping maw of retirement and pension funds. Hell, even profits are fine. No one expects the people at these companies to work for free. They just expect to receive coverage when they have it deemed medically necessary by a doctor. If that means that c-suiters make a max of $500k a year and that the institutional investors have to kick rocks, that's what that means.
> My point is not that UNH is a sterling example of healthcare service but to point out that the narrative justifying the public outrage is not really logically coherent or supported by evidence.
We have type one diabetics rationing their insulin to the point that they die, while the people who run the companies that are supposed to help cover the price of said insulin make millions of dollars in compensation per year. The American male has a median lifetime earnings of $1.8 million. This isn't logically incoherent or not supported by evidence; if you have a pulse and have looked at American news over the last 15 years, you'll have seen stories about people being screwed by their insurers, sometimes to the point of literal death.
> If you have private insurers, they will need to make profit.
See above.
> Also, public healthcare is not the panacea that it seems to be promoted as. Healthcare is expensive and at some point, limits will be placed to avoid bankrupting the system.
No one's suggesting it's perfect, just that it's better than having profligate executives and major shareholders insult your intelligence by telling you they just don't have the money to cover your claim for prescriptions and necessary procedures after you paid the cost of a decent used car in premiums over the last year. Even wait times seen in socialized systems could be tolerable to those who otherwise would not get to see a doctor.