Pandemic profits: Top US health insurers make billions in second quarter

Five of America’s largest health insurers reported more than $11bn in profits in the second quarter – a decline from the same period last year when the Covid-19 pandemic helped drive sky-high profits.

The rise in profits last year was a result of people in the US seeking less medical care because of fears about Covid-19 while still paying for health insurance. Companies warned pent-up demand could have an effect on their bottom line, but medical use still has not returned to normal rates.

The scrutiny insurers faced last year after reporting such high profits – in some cases doubling the amount they made the year before – has largely faded away.

According to Press TV, the House Energy and Committee launched an investigation into insurers last August, but the results of that have not been made public.

In a November article for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr Joshua Sharfstein at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and others called for part of the windfall to be allocated to other parts of the health system, such as beleaguered public health departments which couldn’t afford to contact trace.

“A lot of public health departments are really still struggling to find funds for contact tracing, testing even when the local insurer was sitting on huge profits,” Sharfstein said. “I think part of the dysfunction of the US response was the fact that money was accumulating in one part of the healthcare universe while it was desperately needed in another part.”

The American Rescue Plan and other government funding initiatives have helped fill some of the gaps in public health funding, but Sharfstein, the public health school’s vice-dean for public health practice and community engagement, said it would have been better recoup some of the insurer profits to prop up these systems instead of using taxpayer money.

The article also advised regulators to seek greater transparency on how the money was used, but other than the congressional investigation there has been little action on that front.

At the same time, Americans have borne the brunt of the financial crush from the pandemic and resulting recession.

ME