Are Whoppers deductible?
Published 4:18 pm Friday, April 16, 2010
Would you like fries with that? Tartar sauce? A side of profits with extra gravy? A bowl of cynicism with chocolate sprinkles? For here or to go?
It wasn’t a surprise, but it still made us gag a bit to read Scientific American’s Thursday online report, “Health insurers make big bucks from Big Macs.”
A study by the Department of Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School found that $1.88 billion from the life and health insurance industry is backing the top five publicly traded fast food chains, Scientific American reported. The study was published online Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.
(The largest investor was Northwestern Mutual, which had invested $422.2 million in publicly traded fast food corporations, including $318.1 million in McDonald’s.)
As Scientific American writer Katherine Harmon notes, “Like most businesses, health and life insurance companies are out to make a buck, and one way they augment their income is by investing in other industries.”
Indeed.
But as the researchers note, “Life and health insurance firms profess to support health and wellness, but their choice of financial investments has raised doubts.”
Which is a polite way of saying, “Sufferin’ succotash! What a bunch of hypocrites.”
Surely the insurance companies’ other investments balance out having their fingers so deep in the fast food pie? Investments that show commitment to healthy living?
Well, no. Scientific American informs us: “It’s already common knowledge that the insurance industry has made even bigger investments in tobacco (handing over almost $4.5 billion, according to a 2009 study).”
It seems an odd omission that such supposedly common knowledge — that health insurance companies are heavily invested in tobacco companies — didn’t come up during the health-care debates. It’s pertinent information about priorities. Much like knowing that America’s Health Insurance Plans, an association of insurance companies, spent $6.3 million on lobbying during the 2009 health-care debates — $1 million more than the same period in 2008, according to the nonpartisan CQ MoneyLine.
We know. It’s private industry in a free market and they have a duty to make money.
So if an insurance company drops coverage of an overweight smoker, it’s making money two or three ways. Which is that smart kind of thinking shareholders like.
But health insurance companies investing in tobacco and fast food is kind of like the vehicle insurance industry investing in alcohol and cheap tires.
The Harvard researchers say insurers should be held to a higher standard of accountability.
“Safeguarding people’s health and well-being take a back seat to making money,” the researchers conclude.
We super-size that opinion.
