"We would like to have both profit and growth, but if you have to choose between one or the other, you take margin and profit and you sacrifice the growth line," Zubretsky said.
Whether he knew it or not, he was channeling WellPoint CEO Angela Braley. In a 2008 conference call with financial analysts, Braley had to acknowledge that her company had spent more on medical care during the previous three months than she and Wall Street had expected.
In the future, she promised, "We will not sacrifice profitability for membership."
That was exactly what Wall Street wanted to hear.
WellPoint and Aetna and other insurers have demonstrated repeatedly that while they will do all they can to avoid sacrificing profitability for membership, they are quite willing to sacrifice their members -- and the American public -- for profits.
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