In a year when everybody’s talking in sweeping, vague terms about health costs and the insurance industry, it’s useful to pause and dig into some really specific numbers to better understand how the money flows. That’s what Princeton health economist Uwe Reinhardt does today, dissecting an income statement from the health insurer WellPoint in a guest post over at the New York Times blog Economix. Here are a few of the figures. In 2008, the company’s total revenue was over $60 billion, more than 93% of which came from insurance premiums. About 6% came from fees for administering insurance for self-insured companies, and 1% came from the float.
more.