[kurthr]

One of the big lies is that Insurance Companies have an incentive (aligned with the customer) to lower costs.

In fact Insurance Companies have an incentive to pay no more than competition, but for costs to rise. Due to regulated %overhead this is one of the few ways they increase profits every year.

To maintain current inflation adjusted stock valuations (based on earnings and growth) Insurance companies need prices to rise and they are incentivized to produce this outcome. Surprise!

[AtlasBarfed]

Agreed, the insurance companies are effectively capped on the profits they can declare, otherwise they'll expose themselves to regulation and stricter price controls.

So that's how places like UnitedHealthCare have such exhorbitant salaries and a bloated executive structure. It's the same as colleges, which also have constantly expanding revenues but are "nonprofit". So a vampiric parasitic management class attach themselves to the organization and suck all the money away, while costs soar.