Just Amazing
Commentary By Ron Beasley
In the middle of a health care debate does this make a lot of sense?
Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise ProfitsHealth insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.
In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts.
"The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering," said chairman and CEO Ron Williams. "We view 2010 as a repositioning year, a year that does not fully reflect the earnings potential of our business. Our pricing actions should have a noticeable effect beginning in the first quarter of 2010, with additional financial impact realized during the remaining three quarters of the year."
Is it really a good move to demonstrate such greed and hubris when you are already under attack? Will this make it more difficult for the blue dogs and even some Republicans to oppose a strong public option?
Of course this is being driven by the real problem which is not addressed in any of the current health care legislation - rising costs.
What do you think?
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