There are some truths we hold self-evident: the Iraq war is a moral and tactical failure; George W. Bush is a wretched catastrophe of a president; the working class is getting screwed economically; HMOs are blood-sucking profit mongers.
I have nothing new to add to the first three truths, fine sentiments all. On the last, though, I have a question: just how big are those HMO profits? Are they pretty big, or obscenely big, and how much of American health care goes to pay for these profits?
After having spent some time doing research, I have answers to share below. But what I really want to do is poll the dKos community to see what the general sense is. Poll, and answers, follow...
My own answer is in the first comment.