That’s their premiums revenue, not even counting copays, coinsurance, or the expenses they don’t cover.
ETA: Dammit, and having to argue this again and again makes me numb to some of the salient points. FFS, the $3.5T is SPENT by PEOPLE ALREADY. You’re playing 3-card Monty with health care expenditures. Everyone in the chain, from insurers to doctors to hospitals are getting paid, and many are for-profit. Even if there is ZERO improvement in efficiency, the money is already there. It’s already spent. What do you mean, how are we going to pay for it? We already do!
And that’s a big part of why healthcare is so expensive in the US. If you can only profit off of 15%, make the 85% as big as possible to grow the 15%. Perverse incentives lead to market distortion, film at 11.
