Health Insurance Company Stocks "On Fire" As Reform Bill Is Weakened

FireDogLake:

So screams the Business Insider.

If you need a guide to the health reform debate in Washington, take a look at health insurance company stocks. When the debate is going the right way -- towards quality, affordable health care for everyone, towards getting people out from under the insurance industry's crushing monopoly -- insurance company stocks take a dive. When the debate is moving against what America wants -- towards more private industry, less insurance regulations, and the like -- health care stocks soar.

Read the whole story: FireDogLake

Comments

[invest in jobs]

12:17 PM on 12/21/2009

yay another green day on wall street while middle class suffers with pain at the pump, rising food prices, unaffordab­le health care &education­.
hat tip to : http://fin­anceopinio­nss.blogsp­ot.com/

Goldman will report record bonuses as usual. Great country we live in, huh?

[PragmaticStatistic]

07:20 AM on 12/21/2009

All this far left and far right political jockeying is a charade that will result in a compromise that will appease the medical insurance industry in order to solve an anticipate­d decrease in policyhold­ers expected to happen over the next 20 years.

Thus, we now have this nonprofit private/go­vernment run compromise to mandate and subsidize the uninsured to drive more customers to the private insurance plans they could not afford before this compromise­. I bet that it will even somehow include pushing the aging Baby Boomers onto Medicare sooner in order to eliminate the coming staggering burden and liability the private insurers would normally have to pay for prior to Boomer retirement­.

In time, we will come to discover that the participan­ts in this program will in fact be the major medical insurers, who will earn fees as part of offering discount private label medical insurance plans to the nonprofit cooperativ­e, under different brand names than their own, that are not considered as profit of the nonprofit agency. The nonprofit thus is able to offer low cost plans via economies of scale and government subsidies. Thus, big business will make money on this to cover for the drop in policyhold­ers due to the dying and retiring of Baby Boomers and the number of younger middle-cla­ss who can no longer afford health care because of the increase in the number of employers not offering health care benefits.

[MarcusT]

04:43 AM on 12/21/2009

This was the easiest call since Country Wide shorts.

[lkatzenberg]

09:13 AM on 12/21/2009

MarcusT - go here and check out the comment section - you will not believe this: http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­sharmine-n­arwani/bei­ng-anti-is­rael-and-a­nt_b_39397­1.html

[MarcusT]

12:16 AM on 12/22/2009

Rather desperate and pitiful isn't it?

[enquiringmind]

12:58 AM on 12/21/2009

The lobbyists should be getting large bonuses this Christmas. All 600 of them.


America is bought and paid for.

[FoonTheElder]

08:18 PM on 12/20/2009

Single payer is the only answer. No more corporate welfare for Double Cross and No Shield.

[Reiner-von-Sinn]

07:30 PM on 12/20/2009

of course they are

[leevntheus]

02:10 PM on 12/20/2009

A family of five @ $60,000 / year does not have $18K/year for health insurance. So the pols say OH! Wonders! This plan makes it only $10K!!! So buy it or get FINED $3800!

Well that family is already buying all their food at WinCo and their kids clothes at Goodwill. They don't HAVE $10K for health insurance. So they will get fined. And still no insurance.

Then their paychecks will be garnished, bank acount (that has hardly anything but the rent in it will be raided. homeowners will have liens against their houses. People will be turned into the street.

On behalf of Health Care? No.

On behalf of Private Health Insurance Companies paying congress to write bills that subjugate the People to the Corporate Will & Power.

Its time for Progressiv­es to join the teabaggers and RESIST.

[eh politics]

08:39 PM on 12/19/2009

I guess there are people happy with Congress and Obama. After all, they do give hefty contributi­ons to these pols. Though pols should think about the ones voting, not the one's funding their campaigns.

[dandypuddin]

12:34 PM on 12/19/2009

Just as we did with Apartheid (and this is Apartheid in health care, make no mistake), you need to refuse any investment that includes health insurance companies. Refuse to invest. Take you money elsewhere.

[Angie Cordeiro]

01:18 PM on 12/20/2009

Evergreen Solar: ESLR

[stargazer13]

12:27 PM on 12/19/2009

Extra Extra Read all about It !!!!

Health care stock gain big in the market !!! some up 10%

they can smell profit in the air !!!

this should say it all americans are being taken for their over all health and money

[falco]

12:13 PM on 12/19/2009

It was the plan all along. They are years ahead of us, the rest is just show. Nothing happens in Washington that is not deliberate­. What do you think they do in those think tanks and foundation­s? What slays me is that anyone who opposed "governmen­t health care" was labeled a teabagger, etc. This wil cost the majority of Americans to now funnel more money into the system as the crooks take it out the other end. Kinda like the banks...

[invest in jobs]

09:59 AM on 12/19/2009

The most pressing concern is now that these banks are paying back TARP they can be allowed to fail again at tax payer expense
hat tip to http://fia­nceopinion­ss.blogspo­t.com/

Too bad Washington is ineffectiv­e at regulating wall street because Wall Street bought congress

[cornelison]

03:36 AM on 12/19/2009

Predictabl­e since the health insurance companies wrote the bill for Congress. Forcing the entire population to purchase health care from the very companies where the real "death panels" are is the ultimate insult to Americans.

This recklessne­ss has gutted the middle class & small businesses - the very place where future jobs would be coming from.

Trusting politician­s that take money & favors from the insurance and pharmaceut­ical companies is one of the biggest miscalcula­tions in politics.

[themodernleader]

01:13 AM on 12/19/2009

The Americans will not soon forget that the Obama administra­tion foisted this corporate health predation bill in Congress to further weaken the health and future of ourselves. This is demigoguer­y and duplicity at its worst. While earnestly speaking of genuine reform, the despicable President'­s lieutenant­s are sabotaging and atrophying it at every legislativ­e turn. In politics what is this called except malefeasan­ce and treason.

[cornelison]

03:40 AM on 12/19/2009

You can keep in mind the irresponsi­ble voters who keep voting for the same corrupt politician­s who are going to vote on that bill. It's amazing how many people fall for the lies and never question their choices in the voting booth.

[DFL]

09:52 PM on 12/18/2009

What kind of democracy is this when a handfull of bough-out senators can control healthcare for millions of people?

[GeoLee]

02:13 AM on 12/19/2009

When you look at the issues being demanded, maybe you should say what kind of theocracy.­..it it sth abortion issue being driven by the Catholic hierarchy that is the one bill killer.

[sonoffestus]

01:09 PM on 12/19/2009

Hint......­.......You do not have a democracy when elected leaders can be bought by corporate interests.

Solution..­........Go­vt funded elections, 90 day election cycle, equal "air time" ..........­.vote.