2023 Health Insurance Price Rise: Where Will Your Money Really Go?
Health insurance companies are price-gouging. You are paying more and more to get less and less coverage — that’s a fact. Who really benefits?
Related and recent articles
• Has U.S. Healthcare Really Become a Mob Protection Racket? • The Embarrassing Part about Big Pharma’s Dirty Little Secret • My Health Insurance Company Asked for Feedback on My Specialist. I Blew My Top. • A Friend Texted to Ask “Who I Favored” for 2024 but Hated My Answer • Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Costs in the U.S., Japan, Germany, etc. • My Top 1% Friend Was Floored by the Cost of His Family’s Health Insurance
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The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) just released their 2023 Employer Health Benefits Survey. This annual survey goes to private and non-federal public employers with 3 or more workers and looks at employer-sponsored health benefits in 2023.
Key bullet points from the report:
- The average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2023 is $8,435 for single coverage and $23,968 for family coverage.
- The average annual single premium and the average annual family premium each increased by 7% over the last year.
- Comparatively, there was an increase of 5.2% in workers’ wages and inflation of 5.8%.
- The average single premium increased by 7% in 2023 vs. 2% in 2022.
- The average family premium increased by 7% in 2023 vs. 1% in 2022.
Ok, so health insurance premium prices are going up. That’s nothing new.
But surely you’re getting more for your increased health insurance premiums and deductibles, right?
Sorry to disappoint, but generally speaking, no, you are not.
Take insurance denials as an example. As ProPublica put it in a recent article:
It’s one of the most crucial questions people have when deciding which health plan to choose: If my doctor orders a test or treatment, will my insurer refuse to pay for it?
After all, an insurance company that routinely rejects recommended care could damage both your health and your finances. The question becomes ever more pressing as many working Americans see their premiums rise as their benefits shrink.
Yet, how often insurance companies say no is a closely held secret. There’s nowhere that a consumer or an employer can go to look up all insurers’ denial rates — let alone whether a particular company is likely to decline to pay for procedures or drugs that its plans appear to cover.
The lack of transparency is especially galling because state and federal regulators have the power to fix it, but haven’t.
ProPublica, in collaboration with The Capitol Forum, has been examining the hidden world of insurance denials. A previous story detailed how:
• one of the nation’s largest insurers flagged expensive claims for special scrutiny; (note: if you’ve never read this story from early 2023, it’s shocking; it’s nearly unbelievable how sociopathic the UnitedHealthcare employees and senior management people were; and it’s worth your time to read.)
• a second story showed how a different top insurer used a computer program to bulk-deny claims for some common procedures with little or no review.
Ok, so you’re not getting more for your money. That’s tough. Paying more but getting less.
Still, maybe it’s the case that the health insurance companies have no choice but to (1) raise your prices and cut your coverage or else (2) they would become so unprofitable that they couldn’t stay in business, right?
No, that’s not the case, either. Health insurance companies are more profitable than ever — and getting more profitable every year.
- Last Friday morning (10/13/2023), UnitedHealth Group, the biggest health insurance company in the U.S. announced it made $8.5 billion in profits in the 3rd quarter on revenues totaling $56.7 billion. And again, they did that in 3 months.
- During the first half of 2023, the seven largest for-profit health insurance companies in the U.S. alone made more than $40 billion in profits on revenues of $684 billion. Their profits for the first half of 2023 were 8.1% higher than in the first half of 2022. These 7 for-profit health insurance companies are: Centene, Cigna, CVS/Aetna, Elevance/Anthem, Humana, Molina and UnitedHealth Group.
But at least the health insurance companies must be putting that money to some good corporate use, right?
If you haven’t picked up on the pattern of disappointment with U.S. health insurance companies yet, just imagine the most cynical thing you can. Then triple it. That will get you into the right ballpark.
Where do the health insurance profits really go? Let’s take UnitedHealth Group as an example.
In the first 9 months of 2023, UnitedHealth Group had net earnings of almost $17.5 billion. (See: UnitedHealth Group Reports Third Quarter Results)
In the same first 9 months of 2023, this for-profit health insurance company transferred $11.5 billion of that $17.5 billion in net earnings back to their shareholders via stock buybacks ($6.5 billion) and cash dividends ($5 billion).
Well, to be fair, they call it “returning money to shareholders,” but I’m going to be accurate and precise with my language.
Sure looks like “transferring wealth to the already-wealthy Top 10% of Americans.”
Since 89% of all U.S. stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10% of Americans (CNBC, 10/18/2021), it is fair to say that when a company does stock buybacks or cash dividends, 90% of the money the company spends is a wealth transfer from the company to the Top 10% wealthiest Americans.
So let’s be crystal clear.
When a healthcare company says they are “returning money to shareholders,” that is a euphemism for “we are transferring the money we price-gouged out of our customers’ hides in order to transfer 90% of that money to the wealthiest Americans.”
And 9 times out of 10 — literally, 90% of the time since the money is going to the Top 10% of Americans — “wealthiest” Americans does. not. include. you.
But hey, America’s Top 10% thanks you greatly for (1) paying higher insurance premiums each year, (2) being content with getting less and less healthcare coverage, and (3) you personally taking more and more family financial risk along the way.
Now get back to work, Americans.
Those health insurance corporate stock buybacks and cash dividends — and transfers of hundreds of billions of dollars from you to the Top 10% wealthiest Americans — aren’t going to happen by themselves!
Thank you for reading, subscribing, clapping, and sharing — I appreciate your time and attention.
Related and recent articles
• Has U.S. Healthcare Really Become a Mob Protection Racket? • The Embarrassing Part about Big Pharma’s Dirty Little Secret • My Health Insurance Company Asked for Feedback on My Specialist. I Blew My Top. • A Friend Texted to Ask “Who I Favored” for 2024 but Hated My Answer • Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Costs in the U.S., Japan, Germany, etc. • My Top 1% Friend Was Floored by the Cost of His Family’s Health Insurance
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