Health Insurers Hedge Bets With Fast Food StockResearchers Lambast Health Insurance Companies; Not All Convinced Investment Is Irresponsible
By TODD NEALE
MedPage Today Staff Writer
April 16, 2010
Companies providing life and health insurance owned $1.9 billion worth of stock in the fast-food industry as of June 11, 2009, researchers reported online in the American Journal of Public Health.
The investments were in the five largest fast-food corporations -- Jack in the Box, McDonald's, Burger King, Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and others), and Wendy's/Arby's, according to J. Wesley Boyd of Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts and colleagues.
"The insurance industry, ostensibly, appears to be concerned about people's health and well-being," Boyd said.
But, he said, "If the insurance industry is willing to invest in products known to be harmful and/or kill people then, prima facie, this is not an industry that actually cares about health and well-being."
Although Boyd acknowledged that fast food can be consumed responsibly, he said the aggregate evidence points toward a negative effect on public health.