Reply by Rick M.

•Aetna: 3.7%

Which equated to over $10,500,000,000.
The CEO, Ronald Williams, was payed over $72,000,000
Aetna also overstated it’s losses by around $4,900,000,000 and had to file amended returns

Also, linked from the link you posted:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/03/health_care_reform

Profit is a deceptive measure when used with insurance, because the amount of money that flows through insurance companies is vastly disproportionate to the work they do or the value they add, just by the nature of the business. To put it more simply: private insurance companies’ “costs” are probably about half of all the healthcare spending in America, since that’s the proportion they cover. And their revenues are somewhat higher than that (currently about 4.3% higher, according to Yahoo business). But it’s not as if they’re actually doing half the work in America’s health-care system; they’re just collecting premiums and paying bills, plus a lot of administration and advertising.

-- -- Rick M.