Just another FYI from your friends at IST….

The money you pay your insurance companies with….

One is ‘on your side’ and another tells you are in ‘good hands’….etc etc….you have heard all the claims and BS from them…..

Are you getting your money’s worth out of these companies?

As Americans grapple with rising healthcare costs, a revealing new study shows where much of that money is going — and it’s not necessarily toward better patient care or medical research. According to research just published in JAMA Internal Medicine, major healthcare companies listed on the S&P 500 have been directing massive amounts of their profits to shareholders, with these payouts more than tripling over the past two decades to reach $170.2 billion in 2022 alone.

To understand the scale of this financial shift, consider that healthcare represents 17% of America’s entire gross domestic product, with total U.S. healthcare spending reaching $5 trillion in 2023. Of this enormous sum, approximately 70% comes from taxpayer dollars through various channels, including tax breaks for employer-based health insurance and direct government funding via Medicare and Medicaid.

Behind the staggering medical bills and insurance premiums that many Americans face lies a financial system that includes substantial payouts to investors. “When shareholders expect greater payouts year in and year out, that has an impact on affordability,” notes lead author Dr. Victor Roy, in a statement. “One of the ways that [health care companies] make money is to keep prices high — or raise them.”

Between 2001 and 2022, 92 major healthcare companies distributed an astronomical $2.60 trillion to shareholders through two main mechanisms: direct dividend payments and share buybacks.

Dividends, of course, are profit-sharing checks sent directly to investors who own shares in these companies. Share buybacks, on the other hand, are more like a company reducing the number of slices in a pie; when a company buys back its own stock, each remaining slice becomes worth more, benefiting the shareholders who still hold shares. Both strategies effectively channel money to investors rather than reinvesting it in healthcare services or innovation.

https://studyfinds.org/healthcare-company-profits-shareholders/

These companies challenge most claims in a way to weasel out of paying out….there must be a way us peasants can come out with our savings intact….

There is and it is called Medicare For All…..

Medicare For All

The time has come and the time is ripe as more Americans are being screwed out of the homes because of outrageous medical expenses.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”