Irony alert: health & life insurance firms invest in fast food joints

Whether they provide life or health coverage, one would hope that the primary focus of an insurance company would be the well-being of their policy holders. A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health shows that the industry has a dirty little secret; they invest millions in fast food restaurants.

The study was conducted by Harvard Medical School and the department of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance. They specifically looked at the top eleven companies that offer life or health insurance and their holdings of fast food company stock.

The data included stock in Burger King, McDonald’s, Jack In The Box, the Wendy’s/Arby’s group, and Yum! Brands (parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, and Long John Silver’s). The researchers used data from Yahoo! Finance and found that the top insurers held a combined $1.88 billion in fast food stock as of June 11, 2009.

One of the study’s authors, Dr. Wesley Boyd, saw the shocking amount of irony in insurers throwing money at the industry. "In order to generate profits, they will invest in any area they need to… to make money, even if what they invest in, in this case fast food, is an industry that is known to cause people to get sick and to die early."

Northwestern Mutual topped the list with $422.2 million and claimed that the study’s numbers were false. They said that health was a “high priority” for their employees and policy holders but they also needed “high-quality returns" on their investments.

Outside of dumping fast food stocks, the study argues that insurance companies should leverage their investments and pressure the industry to add healthy menu items. This would be especially important for urban areas where processed food is plentiful at the nearby burger place while supermarkets that carry fresh food are non-existent.

Fresh menu items could improve the health of many, but they are forgetting about the health of the planet. Every year the average American makes 150 visits to fast food joints and tosses 300 pounds of packaging waste in the trash. Pressuring the industry on menu and packaging choices makes for healthier people and a cleaner planet.