The 9% Solution (A Reality Check)

The Gray Lady weighs in on the news that, because of ObamneyCare©, health insurance premiums have skyrocketed.

[ed: in fairness, they didn't couch it that way, I did]

Here's their take:

"Annual premiums for employer-sponsored health coverage soared by 9 percent for families and 8 percent for individuals this year from 2010, far faster than wages or inflation ... So what is driving up insurance premiums? The main factors, analysts say, were increased medical care costs and higher profits for insurance companies" [emphasis added]

Well, they got it half right: health care costs drive health insurance costs.

But what about the oft-repeated, but thoroughly debunked claim that insurance companies continue to rake in obscene profits?

Well, we've dealt with that before ourselves.

But don't just take our word for it. Here's an actual economist:

"Using the industry average profit margin of 3.4% means that insurance companies make about $100 per policy in profits for individual coverage, and a little more than $200 in profits for each family policy."

Still think that 3.4% profit margin's "obscene?"