Health insurance companies invest billions in fast food chains

Saturday, April 17, 2010 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: health insurance, fast food, health news

(NaturalNews) Did you ever wonder how health insurance companies drum up future business? It's easy: Just invest in companies whose products cause chronic degenerative disease, driving people towards more health care needs and therefore more health insurance.

And that's exactly what the health insurance industry is doing. A new article published in the American Journal of Public Health reveals that U.S. and Canadian health insurance giants own nearly $2 billion worth of stock in fast food giants like McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and others.

So profits made by health insurance companies are reinvested in industries that make people sick and diseased, bringing them back to buy more health insurance down the road. It's a pretty clever business model for an industry that seems focused on the almighty dollar and obviously has no concern whatsoever for the actual health status of its customers. If anything, these health insurance companies hope you get sicker!

Corporate conspiracy to keep you sick and diseased

These unholy alliances among corporate giants that conspire to keep you sick are more common than you think. In addition to health insurance companies owning billions of dollars worth of shares in fast food companies, pharmaceutical companies now own major shares of popular vitamin companies -- the ones that produce the cheap, useless chemical vitamin supplements sold at places like Wal-Mart and Walgreens.

Investors in the mainstream media are some of the same companies that own medical imaging equipment manufactures that produce mammography machines and CT scans, too. And did you know that the American Dental Association owns patents on materials used in mercury fillings, which is one of the reasons why the ADA continues to push for installing toxic mercury into the mouths of children? (http://pnwf.org/Dentistry_Mercury_Columns.pd...)

This ownership of fast food companies by the health insurance corporate giants demonstrates a deeply disturbing fact about the entire sick-care industry: It really is about profits rather than health. If they can make an extra buck feeding you the very junk foods that are causing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and strokes, they will absolutely jump on that profit bandwagon no matter what the cost in human lives, pain and suffering.

The bigger picture: What are YOU invested in?

There's an even bigger story to all this, by the way. While it seems altogether contradictory that health insurance companies would invest in fast food chains, the disturbing truth is that many institutional investors hold billions of dollars worth of shares in pharmaceutical companies. Your very own mutual funds may hold large positions in Big Pharma. Even your employer may be investing your pension funds in vaccine-pushing corporations.

Right now might be a good time, in fact, to review whatever investments you might have and make sure you're not inadvertently investing in the types of corporations whose actions you oppose.

Personally, I don't have a single dime invested in any drug company, oil company, junk food company or fast food chain. I prefer to focus on "green" investments that support the things I believe in: Renewable energy, nutrition companies, etc. Did you know that Cyanotech, the Hawaii company that makes spirulina, is a public company? You can actually own stock in Cyanotech (I don't, but only because I don't want a conflict of interest when I write about them). Vitacost.com is also a public company, as are many companies in the natural products space.

If you own mutual fund shares, you might be surprised to find out where your money is being invested. You actually have to research it a bit to find out where these mutual funds redirect your money. Most of them invest in Big Pharma in one way or another.

Remember that every dollar pumped into the pharmaceutical industry is another dollar that will be used to further expand the medical enslavement of the population through vaccines, medications, chemotherapy and other dangerous chemical treatments. The best way to protect the health of future generations is to starve Big Pharma of investment dollars and revenue by refusing to buy their products or stock shares.

It's easy to criticize health insurance companies for investing in fast food chains, but it takes some courage and maturity to review your own investments and make sure they're all supporting the right companies.

Can you pass the investment integrity test?

One thing I've learned about people in this world is that some people are so incredibly greedy and selfish that they'll put their money anywhere that makes them the most money, regardless of where it's being invested. Even some people in the natural health industry are that way, I've learned: If they could get a 15% annual return by investing in Big Pharma, they'd do it!

So here's something to ask yourself. It's an integrity quiz, actually: If you could make a 5% annual return investing in renewable energy, or a 15% annual return investing in a vaccine-pushing drug company, which one would you really choose to invest in? Consider, too, that your investments are private and no one would really know what you invested in.

If you can honestly say you would gladly earn less money by supporting more natural and health-friendly companies, then you pass the test and you can consider yourself one of the few in our world who truly operate with integrity.

Sources for this story include

ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_DietAndFitnes...

American Journal of Public Health
http://ajph.aphapublications.org