I mean, if you were a suspicious, paranoid person, you might think they have a financial interest in making you sick – but of course you’d be wrong!
(CBS) The investments of large insurers of health, disability and long term care in fast food chains like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut have raised the interest of a study in the American Journal of Public Health, reports CBS Radio News’ John Hartge.
The Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Wesley Boyd, an author of the study, finds it ironic that these firms would invest nearly $2 billion in companies that sell food often linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease.
“The insurance industry, so far as it seeks to make a profit, it does so in an amoral way,” Boyd said.
[…] According to the study, Northwestern Mutual owns $422.2 million in fast-food stock, with $318.1 million invested in McDonald’s. Massachusetts Mutual owns $366.5 million of fast-food stock, including $267.2 in McDonald’s.
Holland-based ING, an investment firm that also offers life and disability insurance, has total fast-food holdings of $406.1 million, including $12.3 million in Jack in the Box, $311 million in McDonald’s, and $82.1 million in Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell.
New Jersey-based Prudential Financial Inc. sells life insurance and long-term disability coverage. With total fast-food holdings of $355.5 million, Prudential Financial owns $197.2 of stock in McDonald’s and also has significant stakes in Burger King, Jack-in-the-Box and Yum! Brands.
If people get sick , they have to pay out.
Why would that provide them an incentive to own fast-food stocks?
Illness default stocks?
If people felt healthy, they wouldn’t buy as much insurance. Plus, they get to charge a lot more if you have pre-existing conditions.