by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

To "delivering" their "promises to Wall Street." They expect to continue bringing in a 15% profit. After all, they had a 22% growth rate in the past six years. Those are their priorities, not delivering quality affordable health care. Anthony Wright has direct quotes from the President of Blue Cross's parent company Wellstone, bragging about the profits and the "compelling investment opportunity" they are providing for stockholders. It is rather sickening to read and I am not just saying that because the Sicko premiere is tomorrow.

I assume that the movie will touch on something Anthony discuses and that is the "medical loss ratio".

In this health reform debate, people have been talking about the term "medical loss ratio," which is the term for how much money is spent on patient care, rather than administration, marketing, and profit. It's clearly a Wall Street term: How much money is "lost" to patient care? It shows the inverted priorities of an unrestrained industry.

It suggests that whatever insurance companies (or other companies) say to regulators, it is also important to see what they say to investors.

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by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics: Soapblox California - Front Page]