Exposing HealthCare Cost Inflators
Here's the latest headlines of those trying to control healthcare inflation:
Cuomo expands probe of some of nation's biggest health insurers - Newsday.com
Cuomo presses health insurers for payment info - Business Insurance
Cuomo Expands Probe of Health Insurers - AP
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he issued new
subpoenas to Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp.,
UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., and other
health insurers in a broadening investigation of possible fraud costing consumers
hundreds of millions of dollars.
The above links goes to the tables below. The point I'd like to make is that all four of these
are corporate plantations. By that, I mean that not a single insider has even a 1%
interest in the corportation. All four are completely governed by board of directors that report
to the Major Holders. The CEO reports to the board, and since he has less than 1% interest
in the company, could rightfully be called the plantation manager, especially considering the salary
and perks.
Another important point is that less than 2% of the Major Holders control more than 40% of each
corporation, with some over 50%. That's an enormous amount of control
of major corporations placed into a few hands. No wonder it doesn't take much to get
them working together.
These same Major Holders also show up as Major Holders in
investment banks and
money center banks.
So you can be sure they're strictly interested in big profits, rather than you and your family's health.
In certain hospital chains, such as Hospital Corporation of America [HCA], this profit concentration has
resulted in nurses unionizing.
Senator Bill Frist won big from HCA's existence. [Financial Status]
Since these same Major Holders are also found in
hospital chains,
big pharma companies and
even air ambulance companies such as
Air Methods, it is any wonder that healthcare can
charge any amount that they can get away with. With the enormous lobbying sums spent
every year, not even Congress will touch them. But they insist we pay and pay till we
go bankrupt.
Yes, I'm angry. Especially when a 20 minute air ambulance which wasn't required cost $8,500!
And it didn't get to its destination any faster than a regular ambulance, which would
have cost around $900 at most. The patient had driven himself alone to the hospital in the first place!
Another air ambulance trip that I know of billed almost $13,000 for a 45 minute flight.
That flight was not required either. The patient actually tried to decline it.
The doctor on duty said that he must accept it, probably due to the fact it may had already been
called before telling the patient. Adding insult to injury, the patient was kept only under
observation for 3 hours at the destination while waiting for a CAT scan. No further work was done on him,
and he was discharged 24 hours later. This is certainly reckless use of expensive emergency equipment.
Helicopter overhead is about $1000 per hour, so these sums are
outrageous. Yet they use the court system as a hammer to make patients pay up, plus interest!
These two patients did not have medical insurance either, so they're being hit full force. Those who
do have insurance pay both the premiums and whatever the insurance doesn't cover.
It seems such a scam in these non-emergency situations. I fully understand when it's actually needed.
Another example is $113 for 1000ml of IV fluid.
That's half a liter of distilled water with a little bit of salt.
Your Pepsi bottle that costs $2 max is 2000ml, or 2 liters. And you can bet it has more
processing and more substances in it than the IV fluid. Now imagine this 1000's of times each day
across America. But it's not stopped because the same Major Holders have their say in every corner
of healthcare and insurance.
That's enough. I'm too angry to keep going. It just goes to show you that:
Sometimes The Dragon Wins
| Symbol |
Name Of Corporation |
AET
Major
Holders |
Aetna Inc. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
| Top 10 Institutional Holders | Shares | 2007 | Value | 2006 |
Capital Research And Management Company | 40,606,565 | 8.11% | $2,203,718,282 | -.--% |
Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc. | 36,215,478 | 7.24% | $2,090,719,544 | -.--% |
State Street Corporation | 28,817,179 | 5.76% | $1,663,615,743 | -.--% |
Capital Research Global Investors | 20,951,565 | 4.19% | $1,209,533,847 | -.--% |
Capital World Investors | 20,155,000 | 4.03% | $1,163,548,150 | -.--% |
AXA (Paris, France) | 17,738,093 | 3.54% | $1,024,020,108 | -.--% |
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd | 16,112,154 | 3.22% | $930,154,650 | -.--% |
Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc | 15,942,105 | 3.19% | $920,337,721 | -.--% |
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) | 14,990,382 | 3.00% | $865,394,752 | -.--% |
Blackrock Investment Management LLC | 10,189,977 | 2.04% | $588,267,372 | -.--% |
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: | | 0% | | -.--% |
Top 10 [1.6%] of 635 Institutional Holders Control | | 44.32% | | -.--% |
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control | | 21.45% | | -.--% |
|
|
NOTE: Capital Group manages four funds that control 9.31%.
Legg-Mason manages a fund that controls 2.97%.
T.Rowe Price manages a fund that controls 1.25%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 major holders actually control 57.85%, and
Barclays/Associates control 25.67% of Aetna.
| Symbol |
Name Of Corporation |
CI
Major
Holders |
CIGNA Corp. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
| Top 10 Institutional Holders | Shares | 2007 | Value | 2006 |
State Street Corporation | 11,854,347 | 4.25% | $636,934,064 | -.--% |
Capital Research And Management Company | 11,730,000 | 4.20% | $625,091,700 | -.--% |
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd | 9,803,059 | 3.51% | $526,718,360 | -.--% |
Janus Capital Management, LLC | 8,956,591 | 3.21% | $481,237,634 | -.--% |
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) | 8,948,448 | 3.21% | $480,800,111 | -.--% |
Capital World Investors | 8,730,000 | 3.13% | $469,062,900 | -.--% |
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation | 7,881,034 | 2.82% | $423,447,956 | -.--% |
Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc | 7,216,392 | 2.59% | $387,736,742 | -.--% |
Bank Of America Corporation | 6,576,578 | 2.36% | $353,359,535 | -.--% |
Wellington Management Company, LLP | 6,052,280 | 2.17% | $325,189,004 | -.--% |
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: | | 0% | | -.--% |
Top 10 [1.9%] of 529 Institutional Holders Control | | 31.45% | | -.--% |
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control | | 18.74% | | -.--% |
|
|
NOTE: Capital Group manages five funds that control 5.07%.
Vanguard manages four funds that control 4.23%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 major holders control 40.75% of Cigna.
| Symbol |
Name Of Corporation |
UNH
Major
Holders |
Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
| Top 10 Institutional Holders | Shares | 2007 | Value | 2006 |
Capital Research And Management Company | 72,015,000 | 5.57% | $3,487,686,450 | -.--% |
Marsico Capital Management, LLC | 65,835,783 | 5.10% | $3,831,642,570 | -.--% |
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd | 57,430,437 | 4.44% | $3,342,451,433 | -.--% |
FMR LLC (Fidelity) | 47,307,117 | 3.66% | $2,753,274,209 | -.--% |
Clearbridge Advisors, LLC | 47,048,117 | 3.64% | $2,738,200,409 | -.--% |
State Street Corporation | 43,806,872 | 3.39% | $2,549,559,950 | -.--% |
Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc. | 41,706,874 | 3.23% | $2,427,340,066 | -.--% |
Capital Research Global Investors | 41,607,500 | 3.22% | $2,421,556,500 | -.--% |
Capital World Investors | 39,665,500 | 3.07% | $2,308,532,100 | -.--% |
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) | 38,343,851 | 2.97% | $2,231,612,128 | -.--% |
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: | | 0% | | -.--% |
Top 10 [1.0%] of 939 Institutional Holders Control | | 38.29% | | -.--% |
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control | | 11.06% | | -.--% |
|
|
NOTE: Capital Group manages four funds that control 7.32%.
Legg-Mason manages two funds that control 2.45%.
Vanguard manages a fund that controls 0.97%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 major holders control 49.03%, and
Barclays/Associates control 13.51% of UnitedHealth.
| Symbol |
Name Of Corporation |
WLP
Major
Holders |
WellPoint Inc. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
| Top 10 Institutional Holders | Shares | 2007 | Value | 2006 |
AXA (Paris, France) | 32,619,808 | 5.71% | $2,861,735,755 | -.--% |
Dodge & Cox Inc | 31,463,805 | 5.51% | $2,760,319,612 | -.--% |
Capital Research And Management Company | 20,571,353 | 3.60% | $1,623,491,178 | -.--% |
State Street Corporation | 20,275,283 | 3.55% | $1,778,750,577 | -.--% |
Barrow, Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss, Inc. (Old Mutual) | 18,338,690 | 3.21% | $1,608,853,273 | -.--% |
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd | 17,539,359 | 3.07% | $1,538,727,965 | -.--% |
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) | 17,241,939 | 3.02% | $1,512,635,308 | -.--% |
Wellington Management Company, Llp | 14,802,700 | 2.59% | $1,298,640,871 | -.--% |
Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc | 14,615,566 | 2.56% | $1,282,223,605 | -.--% |
Capital Research Global Investors | 13,700,000 | 2.40% | $1,201,901,000 | -.--% |
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: | | 0% | | -.--% |
Top 10 [1.3%] of 793 Institutional Holders Control | | 35.22% | | -.--% |
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control | | 9.18% | | -.--% |
|
|
NOTE: Capital Group manages four funds that control 5.47%.
Dodge & Cox manages two funds that control 4.05%.
Vanguard manages three funds that control 3.28%.
T.Rowe Price manages a fund that controls 1.00%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 major holders control 49.02%, and
Barclays/Associates control 10.18% of Wellpoint, Inc.
© 2008 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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