This information was obtained from Yahoo’s financial reports site (http://finance.yahoo.com). This is Operating Income. You could argue that their income per share is low. I would argue that the job they fulfill in our society requires that their profits remain even lower given their purpose.
| Quarter ending 6-30-09: | Aetna | $2.475 billion |
| Coventry Health Care | $619 million | |
| CIGNA | $378 million | |
| Humana | $1.073 billion | |
| UnitedHealth | $859 million | |
| WellPoint (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) | $3.592 billion |
The very wealthy people of the United States have convinced the rest of us that we are all part of the “middle class.” The poorest of us are part of the “lower middle class.” There are very few “poor people” in America. You see the very wealthy hired some very brilliant marketing experts to sell the rest of us on the idea of a “middle class.” In other countries we would be called “the peasants”. After all which sounds nicer 1) middle class or 2) peasants?
The average family income in the U.S.A. is $70,000. The median White family income in 2003 was $48,000. Read William Domhoff’s “Who Rules America?” and you realize the enormous disparities in wealth in America.
Now we have a new CEO for AIG. That is a company that received loans from the U.S. government totaling $85 billion. The loans have not been repaid. Newly-appointed CEO Robert Benmosche will receive an annual salary of $7 million and is eligible for a performance-related bonus of $3.5 million.
And you thought that things would be different with Barack Obama as president.
Seniors and the poor are the president’s targets. In his July 22, 2009 press conference the transcript reads, “And it’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.” Today CNN quotes the President saying, “…must get control of Medicaid/Medicare spending.” The problem is Mr. Obama never talks about the ways to control costs. Will there be limits on the payments to doctors and hospitals, limits on payments for drugs, or limits on payments to insurance companies? Ignoring the discussion on cost control, I believe, is intentional.
Once again it’s the rich and powerful versus the rest of us. Insurance companies, large medical care businesses, and pharmaceutical companies are permitted to charge what ever they want. There are no incentives to lower the costs. The middle class senior relies on Medicare for health insurance. The poor and disabled rely on Medicaid. If it’s the middle class and poor versus the rich and powerful it doesn’t take a terribly smart person to realize who will win that confrontation.
In California the poorest among us have been impacted most by the budget cuts. Medicaid and in home health care services were cut in the face of a rising budget deficit. The influential and high ranking members of government were not significantly impacted.
“If only the elderly would die without making a fuss the Medicare system will be able to handle its costs. Why must you old people be so uncooperative?” They won’t say the words exactly like that but everything points to those thoughts. Of course the president denies this idea. Unless he proposes other cost savings ideas this can be the only conclusion that can be reached. This is disgusting.
There is no health care crisis in the United States. 85% of all Americans have health care insurance. No one is turned away from a hospital. Most areas offer no cost medical care to low income families. Even Kern County California, a small town and farming area, provides similar services.
President Obama is in the wrong fight. His focus should be solely on lowering the cost of health care. That is an issue facing everyone in America. Health care for every American is a wonderful idea but the time has not come to make this a reality. Lower costs will probably help to add more families to the insured rolls.
President George W. Bush tried to revise Social Security and he failed. The reason that these changes fail is that the public basically likes and is comfortable with the existing systems. There is no obvious reason to change either of these programs. It’s the American idea, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (spoken) also if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
I skim read H.R. 3200 ‘‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.’’ This is not a law. It is a proposed law or bill. Why didn’t I read every single word? There was too much legal jargon that only a lawyer could understand and he would have to be familiar with U.S. Code (USC). That is the codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States. This proposed law is 1,017 pages long. References to advance care planning and advance directives in the bill only aid those opposing a new health plan. Most people already know about medical power of attorney and advanced health directives. Including help in preparing those documents in the proposed law only supports the fear that the government will try to reduce health care costs by encouraging the elderly to sign documents that will deny them medical care.
Medicare recipients are rightfully concerned about the loss of Medicare benefits. There is too much language in this bill about changes to existing Medicare plans. This is an alert to seniors and the AARP that savings in a new national health plan will come at a cost to seniors. After all it is senior citizens that do receive the most health care services. The AARP has not endorsed this plan or any plan.
The Administration is correct in identifying serious flaws in our health care system. Those flaws should be addressed. Throwing out the entire system because there are a few problems is the wrong approach. After all, most parts of health care do operate fairly well. Cost of medical care is the number one issue according to the president. That is the challenge that should be addressed. I am sure there are other issues but here is my list. Mr. President just address these issues:
Just these improvements will lower the cost of medical care for everyone. These are enhancements that both Democrats and Republicans will be willing to support.
The use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes is not news. The Associated Press thinks otherwise. I know this because they keep providing stories revealing the latest users. They are not telling us something most people don’t already know. The really sad fact is that large numbers of people are still attending sports events. They support and even honor people who are known drug users. In Los Angeles, Manny Ramirez is idolized as like a rock star despite the repeated revelations about his drug use.
Public support for athletics knows no bounds. Next to the main front section of every newspaper the sports section is the largest part. In school system, both public and private, literature and art might be eliminated due to budget issues but never sports.
The privately owned sports teams are in this business for the money. It’s the money the teams earn and the players on those teams. Thinking they are playing for the glory and exultation is naive.
OK, you will say sports are healthy. Are they healthy if the players are taking drugs?
Here is a list of Last year’s Earnings of sports successes as listed by Forbes magazine. I hope not all of them are on drugs.
| 1. Tiger Woods | $100 | million |
| 2. Kobe Bryant | $45 | million |
| 2. Michael Jordan | $45 | million |
| 2. Kimi Raikkonen | $45 | million |
| 5. David Beckham | $42 | million |
| 6. LeBron James | $40 | million |
| 6. Phil Mickelson | $40 | million |
| 6. Manny Pacquiao | $40 | million |
| 9. Valentino Rossi | $35 | million |
| 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. | $34 | million |
| 11. Roger Federer | $33 | million |
| 11. Shaquille O’Nea | $33 | million |
| 13. Oscar de la Hoya | $32 | million |
| 13. Alex Rodriguez | $32 | million |
| 13. Lewis Hamilton | $32 | million |
| 16. Vijay Singh | $31 | million |
| 17. Kevin Garnett | $30 | million |
| 17. Jeff Gordon | $30 | million |
| 17. Derek Jeter | $30 | million |
| 17. Ronaldinho | $30 | million |
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, was not prepared for her appearance on Meet the Press yesterday. David Gregory ate her alive. David used the interview techniques that proved so valuable to his predecessor, Tim Russert. He simply used her own words in questioning the administration’s plan for health care.
President Obama’s objectives were repeated by Mrs. Sebelius in an NPR interview. She did not disavow those goals.
She was unable to explain where there are any consequential savings in the Obama health plan. Then she went on to admit that coverage for all Americans isn’t a priority but it is one “of the goals.” As to quality of care she admits there will be limits but argued, fairly well, that limits exist now in currently available insurance plans. Finally Mrs. Sebelius told viewers that the president has not taken a position on taxing the wealthy to pay for the federally sponsored plan. He has not offered any ideas on how to pay for his plan.
All in all, the secretary’s appearance gave me no assurance that any part of this plan has been well researched. I agree with those that say health care should be available to everyone just like police and fire department services. The problem is that 85% of the population has health insurance through their employers. The second problem is the current cost is too high.
If all of the above goals are equally important congress will have to devise an alternate plan. Mrs. Sebelius confirmed that the cost of health care has reached 16% of GDP. That should be enough of a motivator to make this happen.
I heard this expression just the other day. It describes the behavior suggested by many stock brokers to their clients. They frequently tell their clients that they shouldn’t panic just because the market has experienced a significant drop. Their reassurance is that the long term market averages are high.
What’s wrong with this strategy? The S&P 500 was at 1282.71 on July 1, 1999. It’s been a roller coaster ride ever since. So if you were 55 years old back then and your broker said stick with your plan and you will be far better off in 2009, you just might hate that broker.
The problem is most people don’t want to take responsibility for their own future. The brokers did not know what would happen but they did know that a loss of clients would not be good for their bottom line. So the “buy and hold” idea was born. It really was a “buy and hope” plan. If you didn’t learn anything from the tech bubble of 2000 then maybe you deserve this result.
My philosophy is trust no broker. Research every buy before it is completed. Watch your stocks and bonds carefully. Do not follow the crowd thinking about what constitutes a “bear market.” It’s your money and you cannot re-save it easily. If you have the suspicion the market is heading down; sell while the market is high. Put those sold dollars into a savings account and re-buy when you are convinced the market is near it’s bottom. You may not time it precisely but you can most certainly do at least as well as the brokers.
At least once a year UCLA Anderson Business and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation provide their forecasts for Southern California. Those mainstream predictions never provide any worth while insights on things that could significantly impact business in either a positive or negative way. They may be great for economic students to develop their skills but have no useful purpose.
The guests appearing on CNBC and Fox Business Channel are all qualified individuals but their take on the current situation or their forecasts are too vague in detail. They might be valid but how many of us will do the homework on those individuals? I listen in to learn about the economist who did not follow the pack.
As to our federal government financial leaders, well look at the recession we are now experiencing. Where was Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers, or Timothy Geithner? None were visible until after the economic collapse.
I am listening and watching for the individuals who do not run with the herd. That has brought me to Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University, who stood before an audience of economists, in 2006, at the International Monetary Fund and announced that a crisis was brewing. It was reported in the New York Times Magazine in August of 2008. The article is titled Dr. Doom. Nouriel Roubini has predicted that the recession will be over this year. Correction: Roubini says at the end of the year.
Of course this was unknown to me and even if I was a subscriber of the New York Times would I have understood the significance of the presentation? Probably not.
My solution? You can’t read too much.
When I grew up in the United States I was taught that this country is the greatest in the world. Furthermore the rest of the world was far behind the United States in every way from technology to literacy to whatever. I soon understood that the teachers were either misinformed or were intentionally misinforming the students. You see up until the age of nine my family visited their home town, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada every summer. That city looked like most cities in the United States (i.e. street cars, tall buildings, telephones, radio, etc.).
The teacher in my 4th and 5th grade classes told us that Winnipeg still had farmers bring in their crops in horse drawn wagons. I tried, in vain, to correct this ridiculous image. I realized that the students were probably being given incorrect information about many other things. It was my first understanding that teachers were not infallible. When my own mother became a teacher, as I entered college, I knew my earlier suspicions had been confirmed.
Now I find that another “fact” about the United States is called into question. Conservative talk radio show hosts keep telling us that we have the best health care in the world. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States government has a web site that provides mortality table for every country in the world. Our country is in 50th place out of a total of 224. Macau is in first place and Japan is in 3rd. Canada is in 8th place. Isn’t Canada the country most criticized for its “socialized” medicine? Oh yes, that’s the country that still uses horse drawn wagons to bring their crops into the towns to sell at markets.
Oh, wait minute those CIA figures are all estimates. President Obama has probably influenced the results of that survey. The problem is that every other web site places the United States well below Canada and below many other countries in 36th to 50th place.
The reality is that 45 million Americans are not covered by any health plan. Arguments that no one is turned away from an emergency room, does not mean they are covered by a plan. No plan means that you only go to the doctor when it is an emergency. The consequence is the individual pays the full fee for every visit and those visits are more likely than not to an ER.
Have you gone to an ER when you are covered by a plan? My daughter had chest pains that lasted for half a day. She thought she was having a heart attack. She has Blue Cross medical insurance. It’s a plan that requires her to pay 100% of the first $3,500 of annual medical fees. Her cost for that visit was over $1,100.00. If you do not have any insurance plan the ER will charge you an even higher rate and payment is due immediately.
Do I support abandoning our employer provided insurance system? NO! The objective is to provide coverage for every American. That probably means some type of Medicaid system. How will that be accomplished without destroying the employer based system? That’s the trillion dollar question.
The $787 billion stimulus package signed into law this past February has not resulted in the promised thousands of new or saved jobs. The reason is clear. Nearly 90 percent of the stimulus money has not yet been spent. This is very bothersome to me because President Obama emphasized “shovel ready” projects to invigorate the economy.
The boulevards and primary avenues in the San Fernando Valley certainly need repaving but there are no road graders to be found anywhere near those streets. There are plans in the works for widening the infamous 405 freeway and extending the Orange Line Busway but little or no action has occurred even though those projects have been on the table for years. Los Angeles City officials are asking for more than $7.3 billion of the stimulus money.
Based upon the mere 10 percent of the package being spent to date one can only conclude that this entire effort was a “feel good” action that played well politically at the time but likely will not pay well in the 2010 congressional elections.
I notice that the press has not done a good job of tracking the many projects that the stimulus package was going to aid.
The stimulus money will undoubtedly be spent but it won’t be on “shovel ready” projects. Perhaps it will be spent on every congressman’s pet projects. It’s called PORK.
October 13, 2013
This column was originally published on June 29, 2009. It seems apropos given the current arguments over Obamacare. The law was signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
The words “socialized medicine” drives many Americans crazy. There is an overwhelming fear as if the mere thought of socializing medical care will destroy our nation. The AMA has done an outstanding job of instilling this fear. They started their campaign in the 1930s against Medicare (socialized medicine for social security recipients). AMA publicists included a phony quote from Lenin proclaiming “socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the Socialist State.” Is there any reason to anticipate a change in AMA philosophy? No.
Between the AMA, medical insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical companies there is one objective and that is to keep Americans hooked on the support of a system that makes doctors, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers very rich. In a June 29,2009 BusinessWeek commentary it was reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates their annual payments to doctors at $744 billion. Do you know a poor doctor? I am sure there are some somewhere in America but they are rare.
How much is spent on cancer treatments every year? Breast cancer was an identified illness at the beginning of the 19th century (President John Adams daughter died from the disease). There is still no preventative drug for this disease. PSA screening tests for prostate cancer have recently been called into question but most doctors continue to recommend them. Doctors treat men for the disease even though the treated men are more likely to die sooner than those who have not been screened. It’s all part of a scam to treat people for cancer but not cure them. A wonderful money machine.
A doctor at the University of Vancouver in Vancouver, B.C. questions prescribing medication for high cholesterol. He backs his contentions with data that shows there is no longer life resulting for people who take statins to reduce the bad cholesterol. My doctor says taking the pills is the right thing to do. Of course it is a money maker for the pharmaceutical companies. Cholesterol lowering medications are Levacor, Zocor, Pravachol, Lipitor, Crestor, Simvastatin (a generic for Zocor) and more.
Are the medical insurance companies really earning extraordinary income? I did the research and found these astonishing net income amounts
– Aetna $1.831 billion USD (2007)
– Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield $3.095 billion USD (2006)
– Cigna Corporation $1.1 billion USD (2007)
– Kaiser Permanente $1.3 billion USD (2006)
– Regence Group $6.7 billion USD (2006)
As far as pharmaceutical companies are concerned look at CVS Caremark as just the tip of the iceberg. Their quarterly net income for the period ending March 31, 2009 was $738,400.
Do we need a complete overhaul of our medical care system in the United States? The answer is obvious. The question is how do we provide the needed care at a cost that everyone can afford?
Coast Contact 