Who could have guessed? Just like who could have guessed those who created the financial mess would get a vast portion of the bailout? It’s almost as if bribes… sorry, I keep doing that… I mean campaign contributions and such were involved. Yeah, I know. Crazy talk!
Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied its lobbying and grass-roots resources so successfully in the early stages of the healthcare overhaul deliberations that it is poised to reap a financial windfall.
The half-dozen leading overhaul proposals circulating in Congress would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee insurers tens of millions of new customers — many of whom would get government subsidies to help pay the companies’ premiums.
“It’s a bonanza,” said Robert Laszewski, a health insurance executive for 20 years who now tracks reform legislation as president of the consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates Inc.
Some insurance company leaders continue to profess concern about the unpredictable course of President Obama’s massive healthcare initiative, and they vigorously oppose elements of his agenda. But Laszewski said the industry’s reaction to early negotiations boiled down to a single word: “Hallelujah!”
The insurers’ success so far can be explained in part by their lobbying efforts in the nation’s capital and the districts of key lawmakers.
I haven’t read the comments on this post, but… well this is what happens when you drop the public health option. Force people to have insurance but don’t offer them an alternative? It’s like herding sheep to the meat grinder. And the costs will only skyrocket, because there’s no one to check the insurance companies anymore.
We’ll definitely be needing our spare Change for this.
Fact 1) We have no clue how we are going to Pay for the social safety network we have in place now: S.S., Medicare, Medicaid. Unless something changes they are going under. There is no way we can come up with enough cash to cover these unfunded liabilities. If you were counting on them; get over it. The money’s gone. We don’t have any way to pay for them.
They just added two trillion on to the national dept. They miscalculated.
Then you have congress going on a truly wild spending spree of which this government run program, universal health care, is the crown jewel.
My best guess is that by the time most of you get around to retiring you can’t. When you stop working you’ll die because nothing much is going to be left expect a nation with no credit drowning in an ocean of dept suffering from massive unemployment.
Medicare may still provide aspirin, and free health care might cover talking to a nurse after standing in line all day.
Medicaid? formula?
Social Security might by enough to purchase enough of the cheapest food to keep you alive if you live with someone else or can make it living in a cardboard box.
The bleep of it is I’m not sure that picture is going to change much even if Congress critters started to act in a reasonable and prudent manner and I think the odds against that are 100%.
One of our fromer Presidents once said you should judge a President by asking the question, “Are you (and your family) better off?”
My Answer is NO! and I’m getting worse off fast.
Obama and the dems are planning to do a major transfer from health care for seniors. If all the spending doesn’t cause run away inflation which will wipe out my savings and devalue my pension to nothing, I’ll be shocked. They are blowing away all hope for a decent old age.
As for their foreign policy. I’d suggest you start studying the Koran and pick a sect to join. These guys don’t have what it takes. Western civilization is going under. If you are an atheist. You better learn to fake it real good.
#39 Thomas, I agree with you in principle, but how can individuals make an informed choice about something as complex as healthcare? If you need a heart bypass, do you know the right questions to ask the different doctors you can choose to do it? It’s not like picking out the better green beans in the marketplace.
I’d rather have expert regulators review the competitors and give them grades.
#43
I completely agree that the current coverage is a jungle. The government offering its own plan won’t help. Look at the tax code. I have personally written two insurance rating engines and I can definitely attest to the ridiculously complex insurance plans. One way that CA helped mitigate that problem for small businesses (2-50 employees) is that they forced small business carriers to post their insurance rates to a Dept of Insurance and mandated that premiums could not deviate more than +-10% above the normal for risk factors. I.e., they put regulations in place that made it possible for consumers to compare plans and plan benefits and put caps on the amount the carriers can charge for riskier customers. If the Federal government did something like that and ensured that carriers from any State could insure any individual anywhere in the country it would go along way towards improving the system.
The insurance industry definitely needs to be streamlined for greater competition and better regulated. The problem is that insurance law is more arcane than the tax code and that have just as many lawyers.
#3 bobboo
So, you think that rather than collect some money up front and lose some to corruption and greed that we should take the money from the future where we will lose some to corruption and greed.
What, exactly, is going to curb the corruption and greed of the government? I mean what would be your plan to do that?
#40 Stephen Hawking has ‘no complaints’? Oh, that settles it. I think the Brits missed the part about the argument being over freedom of choice versus forced compliance. Aren’t you guys the ones who are about to replace your pint glasses with plastic? Do you not see that as force? But don’t worry, the left will be trying it here soon too.
#45–gooddebate==yes, there is corruption everywhere, therefore to make this criticism is hardly a complaint==just chaff, sand in the argument.
I am for balanced budgets. Deficits are worse than higher taxes. Both are bad.
So, the original question remains: how can the most American’s get the best healthcare and best afford it given the fraud and all? And the answer remains: single payer with the fraud inherent there as well.
Anything other answer is composed mostly by fraud, intellectual or monetarily motivated, but fraud nontheless.
How?
This country will be bankrupt in 2 years.
Retitle article
“In pretend future where people have money and government isn’t broke, insurance companies would make a bundle off Obamacare except that no one will have money.”
The drug companies are spending $150 million to support Obama’s health care reform. Anyone think they are going to lose money?