At Unleash Prosperity, our favorite word is “profit.” Profits make the world go round and are the best antidote to poverty. But when the business makes most of its profits off of government and taxpayer dollars, we’re not so excited.

That’s the case with the $1.7 trillion health industrial complex, which is financed mostly through government subsidies. This chart shows that hospital earnings have doubled since 2015 (not adjusted for inflation). Profits are down in 2025 from 2024, a blockbuster year, but $400 billion is still a nice payday.

More evidence that the biggest winners from Obamacare are the insurers, not the patients.

As the chart shows, the bonanza winner has been UnitedHealthcare, which now gets more than three-quarters of its revenues from Uncle Sam, even though it covers almost twice as many people in its private, commercial plans. It’s worth noting that all of UnitedHealthcare’s enrollment growth since Obamacare passed in 2015 has been in Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.