272 billion reasons to fear privatization

Below is a list of the 11 US health corporations on the Fortune 500 list. They had a combined revenue of approximately $272 billion in 2011. They make about $15 billion in profits.

These aren't your friendly mom and pop businesses. This is BIG business.

Trying to reform America's largely for-profit health care system is bound to come up against these interests. With such large revenue streams they have incredible power and resources to divert health care reform to match their own interests. They have (literally) billions of reasons to do so.

Corporate health care has not led to good results. The privatized American system is far and away the most expensive health care system in the world. Despite this, tens of millions of Americans have no health care insurance and tens of millions more have inadequate health care insurance.

Already, we are beginning to see a similar trend (on a smaller scale) in the long term care, health care infrastructure, and home care sectors in Canada, where corporations have crept in. Private insurance corporations are probably burning to expand their (currently) secondary role in health care.

If Canada let's more and more corporations run our health care system, we will more and more face the same corporate interests able and willing to push health care in the same direction that corporate health care pushes the American system.

Rank	Company	Fortune 500 rank	$ millions	% change from 2010	$ millions	% change from 2010
			Revenues		Profits
1	UnitedHealth Group	22	101,862.0	8.2	5,142.0	11.0
2	WellPoint	45	60,710.7	3.2	2,646.7	-8.3
3	Humana	79	36,832.0	8.8	1,419.0	29.1
4	Aetna	89	33,779.8	-1.4	1,985.7	12.4
5	Cigna	130	21,998.0	3.5	1,327.0	-1.3
6	Coventry Health Care	219	12,186.7	5.2	543.1	23.8
7	Health Net	221	11,901.0	-12.6	72.1	-64.7
8	Amerigroup	385	6,318.4	8.8	195.6	-28.4
9	WellCare Health Plans	401	6,106.9	12.3	264.2	N.A.
10	Centene	453	5,340.6	19.5	111.2	17.3
11	Molina Healthcare	500	4,769.9	16.7	20.8	-62.1

Issue date: May 21, 2012

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