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.
So… up to 650,000 people will lose their coverage because Aetna didn’t make a big enough profit. And I have to wonder how many of those 650,000 will now join the ranks of the uninsured, because for all the talk of competition, it simply doesn’t exist in the health insurance industry. These guys don’t compete with each other… except to see who can outdo the other in dropping and denying members.
And if Aetna is so ready to lose 650,000 people in the name of profit, then why wouldn’t they support the public option? Could it be they know they are offering a crap product and exorbitant prices? They like to pretend they’re Neiman Marcus arguing that a Target positioned next to their store would lower the quality of the neighborhood, when the truth is they know they can’t compete… because they won’t compete. They have never had to compete.
If a public option existed Aetna, and other insurance companies, could cherry-pick to their heart’s content – guilt free. Hell, you’d think they’d love this idea, and they probably would if they were offering a superior product. But they’re not, which is the real reason they’re against the public option.