UnitedHealth Group Profits in 2Q

As Congress debates groundbreaking health care legislation, the insurance industry continues to reap ridiculous profits. One corporation, in particular, caught my eye: UnitedHealth Group, the largest commercial health insurer based on revenue.

A few days ago, UnitedHealth Group posted a second-quarter profit that more than doubled last years, earning $859 million (73 cents/share) as compared to $337 million (27 cents/share), respectively. What makes this news even more shocking is that they made this profit with 6% drop in enrollment! They are making more money off of fewer insured customers. How is that possible without cherry-picking, overcharging, or denying legitimate claims?

As a reminder, this is the same company that paid their CEO, Bill McGuire, a total compensation package of $1.7 billion over his 10 year reign at the company. That works out to roughly $46,500 per hour (assuming he worked 10 hour days). That means this man "earned" the median household income in this country every single hour. Granted, he had to pay back almost $500 million in fines to the SEC for backdating options, but every dollar he made was a dollar that could have gone to providing health care.

Who would you rather have between you and your doctor? A government bureaucrat, answerable to We the People, or a UnitedHealth Group bureaucrat who has financial incentives to deny claims so they can pay their CEO literally billions of dollars?