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[isthisthingon]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/15/insurance.fast.food.stock/

According to Harvard Medical School researchers, 11 large companies that offer life, disability, or health insurance owned about $1.9 billion in stock in the five largest fast-food companies as of June 2009.

The same can be said for judges owning stock in private companies that build prisons.  But don't worry, the market will handle itself 

Is there any doubt that health medical insurance companies have our best interests in mind?  I hope so.

[perkiset]

Holy smokes what a find, thanks ITTO. Freakin' sick, that is. Expected, i suppose, but sick.

[kurdt]

That's how money plays

[Phaëton]

So what are they gonna slowly take all the delicious saturated
fat taste out of the fast food so that people wont be hitting them up
for cardiograms down the line?

[nutballs]

Insurance wants more tests and sicker customers so they can justify higher premiums to hide higher profits.

[rcjordan]

I'm going to write that article off as "overly politically correct."  While I agree that fast meals (and much of what's not-so-fast) aren't necessarily healthy for all who partake, neither is -say- wine.  Or table salt. Or extremely hot sauces that literally come with hazard warnings.

[isthisthingon]

Overly politically correct    Food can't claim to be disenfranchised    

Medical insurance companies investing billions in any massive food conglomerate is questionable at best.  Finding out they focus on fast-food?  Priceless.  And I don't think we're dealing with a "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" situation either.  First it's fast-food and then what?  Hot sauce with warnings??  Suicide wings?  And Christ what about wine??  None of these should even be on the investment radar of the very companies responsible for safeguarding our health through medical treatment - especially when profits rise when health deteriorates 

Medical insurance companies should be "investing" in health, period.  Yet as it stands today, health is the enemy of profit, just as abundance is currency's worst enemy.

[rcjordan]

>especially when profits rise when health deteriorates

That would be the health care provider, not the insurer. The insurer makes their money by ditching unhealthy clients while collecting fees from those who do not use any services.

[isthisthingon]

Directly yes.  But if everyone was healthy we wouldn't need a medical insurance plan for anything but extreme health emergencies, like car accidents.  Otherwise we would all die of natural causes and wouldn't spend an arm and a leg on Phen Phen.

The diabetes industry is bumpin, much to the pleasure of McDonald's and insurance companies with their ever-increasing rates that they simply "must" charge to cover their "losses." 

[rcjordan]

Nah, you're wide of the mark on this one, ITTO.

[isthisthingon]

Nah, you're wide of the mark on this one, ITTO.

That's probably because I think money has no business playing anywhere near health.  Operating on someone after securing the lowest possible bid for the surgery, or even various parts of the surgery, is just fundamentally wrong in my view.  But my worldview is quite different from most

[kurdt]

That's probably because I think money has no business playing anywhere near health.

Well money doesn't have any business in politics either but you still live in the country where money is the politics Here it's not as bad even we have our share of politicians getting busted of taking alledged bribes. In my opinion politics should be another "calling" profession like being a nurse or some other sort of humanitarian worker. Pay is always shit but you do it because you love it. Same should happen with politics. Before that happens we won't ever have democracy that actually does what majority wants and what's best for people. Now it's all about what politicians wants and political success is measured on how well you can explain your actions to majority (usually by saying another thing and doing another thing).

[rcjordan]

"Money doesn't have any business in politics but you live in the country where money IS the politics." -kurdt

Congrats, kurdt. You just made my quote file.

[isthisthingon]

>Well money doesn't have any business in politics either but you still live in the country where money is the politics

Trust me, I've considered leaving many times.  I take the good with the bad and try to improve the place where I live which is currently America.  But money is God here, and it makes me ill 

[nutballs]

money is god everywhere, but some countries god is not taken as seriously.