Where Does $1 Go On Your Health Premiums?
The 83 cents that pays claims did what you thought the entire dollar was doing. Set it aside. The remaining 17 cents is more interesting. A portion covers the carrier's operating costs. A portion pays your broker. What remains, 3 to 7 cents on each dollar, goes somewhere that never appears on any invoice you have ever received.
It becomes surplus. Surplus is the carrier's retained capital. It sits on their balance sheet as equity. UnitedHealth Group holds $25.5 billion of it. Elevance holds $40.3 billion. These are not fees. They are not costs. They are capital accumulation, and your premium dollar funded it.
In other words, carriers collect your premium on day one. They invest it immediately - this is called a "float". They pay claims on day 45, day 60, day 90, but the investment returns generated during that window belong to the carrier, in perpetuity.
And the worst part of it all: You own none of it.
Until now.
Our Team of Experts
Dutch Rojas, Co-Founder & CEO
Steven Siwek, MD, MBA, Medical Advisor
Chuck Foster, Head of Operations
20+ years building, financing, and exiting healthcare companies. Developed the coordination infrastructure model that makes the MedMerge collective economics possible.
Chuck Foster, Head of Operations
Steven Siwek, MD, MBA, Medical Advisor
Chuck Foster, Head of Operations
Chuck has years of operational leadership across coordinated group onboarding, infrastructure deployment, and collective management.
Steven Siwek, MD, MBA, Medical Advisor
Steven Siwek, MD, MBA, Medical Advisor
Steven Siwek, MD, MBA, Medical Advisor
In 2002, Dr. Siwek founded The Pain Center of Arizona (TPC). After nearly failing under the consolidation model, Dr. Siwek bought back TPC, and began creating ways to make physician independence possible.