Categories
· Health/Science
· Business (Tobacco)
· Investing
· Business (General)
non-USA, by Country
· UK
· Canada
· USA
|
Harvard researchers say insurers put profits over health
Jump to full article: Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), 2009-06-03
Intro: More than a decade after Harvard researchers first revealed that life and health insurance companies were major investors in tobacco stocks - prompting calls upon them to divest - the insurance industry has yet to kick the habit, they say.
A new article on insurance company holdings, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, shows that U.S., Canadian and U.K.-based insurance firms hold at least $4.4 billion of investments in companies whose subsidiaries manufacture cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and related products.
Tobacco products currently contribute to the deaths of 5.4 million people worldwide annually, according to the World Health Organization. Tobacco use is a major risk factor for stroke, heart attack, lung disease and cancer.
"Despite calls upon the insurance industry to get out of the tobacco business by physicians and others, insurers continue to put their profits above people's health," said Dr. J. Wesley Boyd, the lead author of the article. "It's clear their top priority is making money, not safeguarding people's well-being."
To illustrate their point, Boyd and his colleagues point to Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial Inc.
Jump to full article » |