Commentary: Occupy Wall Street and Insurance Companies

By Will Carnes
Creativity + Social Change
University of Connecticut
11 October 2011

Commentary on "Next Occupy - Wall Street-Run Health Insurance Companies," HuffPost, October 11, 2011

I found this article pretty interesting because health insurance companies such as Aetna and Cigna were brought up in the discussion. I live in Farmington, Conn., and these companies are a ten minute drive away. I have actually done an internship at Aetna a couple of summers ago and met with the former CEO Ronald Williams. After reading this article I had a completely different outlook on the company that I spent a summer working for.

I was unaware that Aetna and other health insurance companies were “profit machines” for Wall Street. I didn’t know rates were going up and less care was being provided. In my intern program I was under the impression that programs for more health care coverage were in the making. I don’t think I was being lied to but I had no idea that the CEO’s of these companies were pocketing an abundant amount of money for themselves and Wall Street. It’s hard for me to pay attention to these facts because I am still under my parents insurance, so I don’t actually pay anything. After watching some of the videos from Occupy Wall Street website, I remember one woman being interviewed in particular. She was saying most Americans are for the movement but as long as they are living comfortably in their homes they are not actually going to come down and protest, they are going to let someone else do it. She went on to say that the people who don’t have health insurance, or a job, and are in financial trouble are the people that have to stand up to Wall Street and make a change. When I think about the future it’s scary because one day I will have to pay for my own insurance. “We've got 9% unemployment, falling wages and a declining standard of living, and these guys are taking raises that stagger the imagination.”(Ethan Rome)

I think its going to be hard to break this corporate greed. I’m all for what the protestors are doing but what if they were put in the positions of theses greedy CEOs. Would they give away their bonuses to help the poor and middle class gain health insurance? In the article it mentioned CEOs received 1 billion in compensation in a 10 year period. Does anyone really need that much money? So the question is ..If these CEOs were to donate the billions of dollars they make, how would it be distributed out? Who would the money go to first? That’s the one issue I have with this movement on Wall Street. Things are not going to change in one day. At what point do the protestors know when they win? Will bills be passed right away and the economy taken out of recession? My opinion is no.

The important idea is maybe one day things will change because all these people protested. Maybe one day we will have a true democracy where the people who keep this country running have a voice in what decisions are made. Maybe one day we will sniff out the greed and keep it out. All we can do is try and hope for the best.