Fortune Magazine’s 2009 analysis of industry profits showed that health plans’ profit margin was 2.2 percent, ranking it far below other health care industries. Yahoo! Finance’s latest analysis of quarterly financial data shows the average profit margin in the health insurance industry is 3.4 percent, compared to 11 percent for the entire health care sector.

What Experts Say About Health Plan Profits

Alwyn Cassil, Center for Studying Health System Change: “‘…this idea that (taking) this $12billion that they have in profits … would fix our health-care spending problems is just a pipe dream.’” (Louisville Courier-Journal, Health insurers defend profits, 02/21/10)

Uwe Reinhardt, Economist, Princeton University: “‘Everyone is beating up on the insurance companies, but you may be shooting at the wrong target…’” (AOLNews, Who’s the Bad Guy in Insurance Premium Hikes?, 02/21/10)

Ezra Klein: “…it’s hard to see how [health plan profit margins of 3.3%] are a primary driver of health-care spending, much less the growth in health-care spending.”

Henry Aaron, Brookings Institution: “Insurance company profits in the large picture have very little to do with the overall rising cost of health care.”

Dr. Peter Kongstvedt: “The insurance companies are not the major drivers of cost inflation…”

Kaiser Health News: “With the nation’s health care spending estimated at $2.5 trillion this year, even the elimination of insurers’ profits and executive compensation would lower health care spending by just 0.5 percent.”