Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[RedKing]

1) Operating revenues increased 6.6% while operating loses increased over 9%.  That means that they were eating the loses, not passing them on to you.

Percentages are the devil's tools. If they had revenue of $100 and losses of $10, and then the next year they had revenue of $130 and losses of $20, they could say that operating losses increased 100%, while revenues increased only 30%.

Are there hard numbers to go with those percentages?

[smjjames]

In news: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/in-syria-and-iraq-the-islamic-state-is-in-retreat-on-multiple-fronts/2016/03/24/a0e33774-f101-11e5-a2a3-d4e9697917d1_story.html

Can't you get a link from someplace that doesn't have paywall?

Anyway, I'm wondering if it's a tactical/strategic retreat (as in regrouping) or actual retreats?

[mainiac]

Are there hard numbers to go with those percentages?

Yes, the earnings statement linked in the article, which I then linked again in the post.

And the operating loss ratio rose from 84.5% to 87%, so it's not the devils numbers.

[Shadowlord]

... Paywall?

* Shadowlord looks confused

I've never run into a paywall on their site.

[RedKing]

Are there hard numbers to go with those percentages?

Yes, the earnings statement linked in the article, which I then linked again in the post.

And the operating loss ratio rose from 84.5% to 87%, so it's not the devils numbers.

Okay, from that very earnings statement:

The growth in revenue reflected premium increases to cover overall cost trends and higher enrollment in the Medicaid and Commercial self-funded businesses.

Overall, the way they've got their report structured, it's impossible to pick out which accounts are tied to ACA and which aren't.

[mainiac]

The growth in revenue reflected premium increases to cover overall cost trends and higher enrollment in the Medicaid and Commercial self-funded businesses.

Yes, overall cost trends.  I.E. that thing that has been happening for 60 years.  But if you look at the breakdown in the earnings statement you will see that the existing market was not more profitable then it has been in the past.  So the increase in the existing market for this one insurer was actually less then the medical inflation for that segment.

[Lord Shonus]

One of the great "problems" with the ACA is that it killed off (by making them illegal) a lot of attractive-looking, cheaply priced health plans that had so many limitations and escape clauses buried in the fine print or hidden by clever legalese that they covered almost nothing - most of the people I've personally known to have "lost" their healthcare or had their rates skyrocket had plans of this type.

[MaximumZero]

Honestly, health insurance companies can go die in a fire. They provide no value to people, and only serve to monetize something that should be a basic human right.

[RedKing]

I'd argue that's true of most insurance companies, not just health.

[MaximumZero]

I'd argue that's true of most insurance companies, not just health.

I'd agree with you, but that's a big can of worms to open all at once, and I know how the forum can be sometimes.

[mainiac]

Auto insurance companies provide certainty in an uncertain world at a very low price.

[MaximumZero]

Auto insurance companies provide* certainty** in an uncertain world at a very low*** price.

*Provide, as per state laws that say that drivers are required to have it even with a spotless driving record.
**Sometimes, if the law says they have to.
***For varying degrees of "very low," which does not take into account the ability to pay of the insured, depending on how local laws are written.

[Willfor]

So is no one going to talk about the pro-discrimination bill that just passed in NC yesterday? The one that removes several legal protections on employment (including race), bans unisex bathrooms, makes it illegal to use bathrooms that don't match up with your assigned-at-birth gender? The one that is modeled after official Republican policy, and will likely be put in across the country if the Rs win this election? The one that 9 other states are trying to follow suit on right at this very moment? Including a Kansas bill that puts a bounty on outing transgendered kids in school bathrooms (oh, that's going to be great)?

Tell me again how the Republicans and the Democrats are the same, please, as one of these parties starts building hate directly into legislation.

[Reelya]

... Paywall?

* Shadowlord looks confused

I've never run into a paywall on their site.

Some online papers are now hitting you up for a subscription if you look at a certain number of articles per month from the same IP address.

[Frumple]

Auto insurance companies provide certainty in an uncertain world at a very low price.

... usually not a very low price. Maybe lower than health, but sometimes friggin' rent is lower than health. But yeah, auto's relatively useful considering how bloody dangerous vehicles are and the whole way it very directly involves other people much of the time.

And hadn't heard yet, will. Dunno how else to express it besides "sucks". Though it'll probably get knocked down in the scotus, but... ugh.