Uh no, they don't. Not if they're also the ones who provide healthcare. Simply denying claims isn't even remotely close to the financially (and obviously not the politically) optimal strategy.

The optimal strategy if you own both the insurer and the provider is a combination of premiums, copays, deductibles, and maybe even some totally unnecessary care to drive up volume.

Lower margin on dramatically higher volume is still dramatically more money. Lower margin actually provides political cover for your $400 billion revenue years.

To be fair, this is because there's long-standing [but disputed] evidence that healthcare providers drive up costs/utilization when they can refer to hospitals they have equity stakes in.

Messy business!

Not quite true. If you own the providers, getting people to pay deductibles and copays (i.e. getting treated) will yield way more money than just having them pay premiums.

No, he needs to get Congressional approval to accept it in the first place. The Emoluments Clause is crystal clear.

Also the largest insurers increasingly own the doctors you’re seeing too.

Also the pharmacy you get your drugs from.

Also the entity that negotiates prices between pharma companies and your insurer.

More healthcare consumption = better, across the board