I hate to come off as the guy that knows important people, but I just happen to have worked at high levels in both National Security and "ta--dah" Healthcare. Talking with a friend today who is in the stratosphere. He sent me this letter, from the Sec of Health and Human Services to the some Insurance Association. I was struck by the "blunt" language. Working in Washington, you don't see this stuff very often. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/img-329151024-0001.pdf This letter is seen at the top of the insurance pyramid as "the gauntlet" There is apparently a second one, that has already gone that says that though SELF FUNDED plans (the way big companies pay health care, they do not insure since they can afford to pay claims on their own and thus save on admin and "margin") were NOT addressed in the legislation, they are considered insurance and regulations (key word) will deal with them, too. The tone is the same. The smart money says two things. We can see if it will happen. 1) the regulations, which really operationalize the "law" will be written with extreme prejudice, and; 2) the law and the regs will have health insurance so screwed up by the next election, Obama will run against the insurance companies, win, and then move to single payer, since "we tired but we could not work with the insurers." The above link may well be people's exhibit, A. The uneasy feeling in insurance circles that rather than Obama's Waterloo, this law may be a huge strategic victory. Nobody knows it all and I acknowledge I am a dumbazz, but I have some really, really smart associates and friends. They do this for a living, and a very princely living it is. Cheers. hwr
Hmmm, Thanks for posting this information but I have pretty much stated something similar in the insurance thread. They all got combined into one big cluster****. The regulations are set up to where insurance companies have to have the 85/15 ratio meaning that they have to operate on the 15 percent ratio including new taxes which is impossible for them to do. They will be deemed as financially unstable and will be put out of business and or taken over by the government at a later date. This is no surprise to me maybe some dumbasses will finally wake up. None of this is new, the government under Obama is trying to take over as much as the private sector as possible. Actions speak louder than words.
Btw I am not saying that you are wrong here. I believe it will take quite a few moves to destroy the insurance industry and capitalism. Yes, I "suspect" that Obama will use the same steps you describe to take us from capitalism to socialism. After all anyone who opposes Obama and government are the enemy, called racist, etc. This stuff shouldn't surprise anyone, obama went to Rev Wright's church of hate, daming the country for 20 years. So why shouldn't people think that Obama wants to re-make the country in his image, he pretty much has already stated that!
All I see here is a statement that insurance companies can not deny to cover children with pre-exisiting conditions. Do you have a link to the second one?
Well, I do tend to tip one or two back a bit a lunch. Never really thought about it that way before. Dang!
