So Brakeman read the
letter to Williams out loud in the lobby.

“Despite your assertion that ‘for profit health plans averaged about a 6 percent profit margin after taxes’,” she said referring to Williams’ July 11, 2007 editorial in the Hartford Courant. “We would again suggest, at the risk of being redundant, that any profit margin is too much when 400,000 people in Connecticut are uninsured—an thousands more are underinsured.”

The letter pointed out that advocates were pleased to see Aetna’s newly appointed President Mark Bertolini had gone to see the movie Sicko, however they were still concerned he used the words “trivialize” and “oversimplify” to describe parts of the film, which largely focuses on health insurance company profits.

The letter suggested that if Aetna wants to be the number one health insurer “they are not ready nor willing to look at the negative role their profit margins, administrative costs, and CEO pay have had on our nation’s health care crisis.”

In order to guarantee delivery of the letter and movie tickets Brakeman and the advocates decided to send it certified mail.

The letter was also signed by the Working Families Party and concerned universal health care advocates from across the state. The Working Families Party said it will continue to protest Aetna’s quarterly profits. Click here to read about its protest of Aetna’s first quarter profits.