I presume that hundreds of billions in profit refers to money extracted over multiple years, not per year, there’s no other way it makes sense.

>and most of that is probably not even insurance related since a large portion comes from UNH's enormous healthcare provider business

Isn’t that part of the problem? There are interdependent layers in the health care industry each designed to extract as much wealth as possible.

In the case of UNH, how much money flows as an expense on the insurance side into income on the provider side? Isn’t the relative profitability between these two sides an accounting trick?

It seems strange to me that you’re saying doctor salaries are too high, yet the majority of profits come from their provider business, which is where doctor salaries would be tracked as an expense, right?

“Less than $50b/yr profit” as if that’s a small amount.

I agree that retail investors would not want to be shareholders of insurance companies, but that’s mostly because I think retail investors are just chum in the water for institutional investors and prop trading firms to feast on.

If it’s so stupid to be a health insurance shareholder, then where does that leave their senior leadership and major shareholders? They’re morons for not immediately divesting and moving into fast food, right?