The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
No Mercy / No Malice: Less for More
Oct 3, 2026 · 18 min · 10 segments
As read by George Hahn. https://www.profgmedia.com/p/less-for-more
- Speakers
Scott GallowayHost
Ina GartenHost
Megan RapinoeHost
Sue BirdHost
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Oct 3, 2026 · 18 min · 10 segments
As read by George Hahn. https://www.profgmedia.com/p/less-for-more
Scott GallowayHostIna GartenHostMegan RapinoeHostSue BirdHostIn my next life, I'm coming back as a Navy SEAL, Broadway dancer, or chiropractor.
However, in this life, I should have gone into insurance.
Yeah, insurance.
If you meet someone who has meddling IQ, exceptional EQ, and is making $600,000 a year, there's a decent chance they are in insurance.
This industry thrives by tapping into an instinct, fear.
We'll gladly suffer a series of guaranteed losses to avoid the possibility of a catastrophic one.
Nowhere is this more evident than with health insurance.
Of the wealthy nations at this year's World Cup, the U.S. is the only one that doesn't guarantee health care.
In many industrialized nations, employers play a small role via payroll deductions in funding universal coverage.
But only in America is employment tied directly to that coverage, meaning employers can shift rising health care costs to labor, while workers who lose their job also lose their coverage.
For people under 65, employer-sponsored plans are the leading source of health insurance, providing benefits to approximately 165 million American workers and their families.
Without reducing benefits, premiums for employer-sponsored plans are projected to increase this year by an average of 11% year-on-year, the steepest rise in two decades and more than three times the rate of inflation.
ProfG Media's premiums are increasing 9% year-on-year.
We're seeing a slightly smaller jump thanks to the professional employer organization that handles our payroll, taxes, etc., allowing a firm like ours with fewer than 50 employees to participate in a larger plan.
Meanwhile, many companies are shifting a greater share of their costs to their employees, with the average worker paying 8% more year-on-year to cover higher payroll deductions for premiums and out-of-pocket charges, including deductibles and co-pays.
If you're getting the feeling that America's private health insurance market is a drag on businesses and workers, trust your instincts.
When a market fails, our tendency is to provide demand-side subsidies.
If healthcare is unaffordable, the logic goes we should subsidize access, helping more companies and people pay for it.
The demand-side approach feels morally right, directing help toward those who need it.
But because demand-side solutions do nothing to control costs, subsidies are akin to pouring fuel on a flame.
Actually, it's worse than that.
Between 2011 and 2024, the average insurance premium increased by $3,143, 78%.
while health spending per person rose by $2,844, 84%, according to an analysis by Yale economist Zach Cooper and University of Wisconsin Business School professor Stuart Craig.
Over the same period, insurer markups, the portion of the premium that covers insurance companies' administrative costs and profits, decreased from 19% to 15%.
The growth in health spending accounted for 91% of the overall growth in average premiums.
In my next life, I'm coming back as a Navy SEAL, Broadway dancer, or chiropractor.
However, in this life, I should have gone into insurance.
Yeah, insurance.
If you meet someone who has meddling IQ, exceptional EQ, and is making $600,000 a year, there's a decent chance they are in insurance.
This industry thrives by tapping into an instinct, fear.
We'll gladly suffer a series of guaranteed losses to avoid the possibility of a catastrophic one.
Nowhere is this more evident than with health insurance.
Of the wealthy nations at this year's World Cup, the U.S. is the only one that doesn't guarantee health care.
In many industrialized nations, employers play a small role via payroll deductions in funding universal coverage.
But only in America is employment tied directly to that coverage, meaning employers can shift rising health care costs to labor, while workers who lose their job also lose their coverage.
For people under 65, employer-sponsored plans are the leading source of health insurance, providing benefits to approximately 165 million American workers and their families.
Without reducing benefits, premiums for employer-sponsored plans are projected to increase this year by an average of 11% year-on-year, the steepest rise in two decades and more than three times the rate of inflation.
ProfG Media's premiums are increasing 9% year-on-year.
We're seeing a slightly smaller jump thanks to the professional employer organization that handles our payroll, taxes, etc., allowing a firm like ours with fewer than 50 employees to participate in a larger plan.
Meanwhile, many companies are shifting a greater share of their costs to their employees, with the average worker paying 8% more year-on-year to cover higher payroll deductions for premiums and out-of-pocket charges, including deductibles and co-pays.
If you're getting the feeling that America's private health insurance market is a drag on businesses and workers, trust your instincts.
When a market fails, our tendency is to provide demand-side subsidies.
If healthcare is unaffordable, the logic goes we should subsidize access, helping more companies and people pay for it.
The demand-side approach feels morally right, directing help toward those who need it.
But because demand-side solutions do nothing to control costs, subsidies are akin to pouring fuel on a flame.
Actually, it's worse than that.
Between 2011 and 2024, the average insurance premium increased by $3,143, 78%.
while health spending per person rose by $2,844, 84%, according to an analysis by Yale economist Zach Cooper and University of Wisconsin Business School professor Stuart Craig.
Over the same period, insurer markups, the portion of the premium that covers insurance companies' administrative costs and profits, decreased from 19% to 15%.
The growth in health spending accounted for 91% of the overall growth in average premiums.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.