Here's a novel business plan: If your customer isn't interested in paying full price for services anymore, just figure out how to save the customer money so they can afford you.
And when your customer is The United States of America, there's probably plenty of wasteful spending to point out. In fact, UnitedHealth Group
Insurers like UnitedHealth, Humana
Hopefully the idea doesn't spawn changes at other businesses. I don't need my barista at Starbucks
Ironically, UnitedHealth could be potentially helping its future competitor. The government hasn't decided what to do with the 50 million uninsured Americans, but one of the proposals is to set up a government-run plan that would compete with private plans from companies like Aetna
Investors -- myself included -- are having a hard time assessing exactly how much risk there is for the health insurers. Many are trading at single-digit price-to-earnings ratios, but they're only ridiculously cheap if the government doesn't cut margins considerably, which could result in lower earnings. UnitedHealth's actions should give investors confidence that the company is actively trying to shape the reform, but whether that'll be enough remains to be seen.