0.5 percent

...that's what Mr. William McGuire's fine to the SEC was for his stock option backdating scandal relative to the estimated value of those stock options (estimated to be worth $1.4 billion dollars).

Poor Mr. Mcguire. He also had to "forfeit" (mind you, he never was "paid" anything, but rather had an "option," potentially, to cash in on the money) $620 million back to Unitedhealth's board in an agreement not to be sued by their shareholders.

And he gets to "exercise" (i.e., get paid) $800 million because he was such a nice guy as to give up 43.7% of his potential haul.

PLUS, he spends no time in jail.

I hope this isn't too tough on him. I mean, after all, he was such a nice guy to so many peoples' portfolios.

But patients ultimately paid the price for this mess, you know: through denied claims and by having to change doctors as health care "plans" were reorganized to assure Unitedhealth's profits as they gobbled up competitors through shrewd business practices that obfuscated and delayed payments to physicians and their patients.

This, my friends, is the real healthcare crisis story in a nutshell. Sugar-coating healthcare as "wellness" in hopes of stealing from the poor to feed the rich, all in the name of profitting investors.

Now in the time of our election, we must look for change, but there's one small problem:

Traditionally, the financial sector — banks, insurance companies, and the real estate industry — has been the largest source of funds for presidential and congressional races, followed by lawyers and lobbyists and then ideological and single-issue groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

So do we think things will change substantially?

Of course not.

After all, the government is still gloating over their 0.5 percent fine to Mr. Mcguire.

-Wes

0800 AM CST Addendum: My original post claimed it was 0.000005% earlier this AM - I had not had my coffee yet. The correct percentage amount was calculated as: $7,000,000 / $1,400,000,000 x 100% = 0.5% for Mr. Mcguire's fine paid to the SEC. I regret my earlier miscalculation.