Scarborough: Health Insurance Stocks Reached 52-Week High On Friday

On Sunday's Meet The Press, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was asked a simple question about health care: What has President Obama achieved? His answer: "He has made a lot of people with insurance stock a lot richer."

"This [bill] is great for insurance companies," he explained. "They were going to reform the system [but] neither side wanted to take on the insurance companies. Neither side wanted to get rid of anti-trust exemptions. Neither side really pushed hard to allow you or me or anybody here to buy across state lines. And as Howard Dean said -- and this is a devastating fact -- insurance companies' stocks reached [52-week] highs on Friday after this so called reform bill got its 60th vote. So David Axelrod, who I love and respect, but David Axelrod kept saying 'we took on the insurance companies, this is real reform, they're against it.' Really? I don't think so."

Watch the discussion below:

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Comments

[wisdomisthekey]

06:35 PM on 12/22/2009

i think the stocks went up on friday because they believed that the bill won't pass....... now when the stock reverse at the begining of the year.. will it be reported as evidence that the bill is not good for insurance companies..... no...... then the spin will be that the bill kills capitalism............

[Schmaltzy the Golem]

04:01 PM on 12/22/2009

Uh..Dean and Scarborough falsely said stocks were at a 52 YEAR high, not 52 WEEK.....a tad off. Come on HP!! Of course the stocks are going to rise on the expectation of more business. The question is,how much will the regulators control the industry and legally require them to do the right thing?

[maggienash65]

04:48 AM on 12/21/2009

JS is running for president. I believe I heard this is just the beginning of health care. I am sure in a few years good things will come out of it.

[citizen of the universe]

04:06 AM on 12/21/2009

I wonder if Aetna will lift the hiring freeze with this news.

[TrueThis]

12:44 AM on 12/21/2009

He's just stirring the pot! A lamed instigator.

[treat2day]

09:39 PM on 12/20/2009

HOSE AGAIN, please!

Extra Payments to Medicare Advantage to Total $11.4 billion in 2009

$43 billion in extra payments have been made to private Medicare Advantage plans since 2004

Private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will be paid $11.4 billion more in 2009 than what the same beneficiaries would have cost in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, according to a new report released today by The Commonwealth Fund. This new analysis, The Continuing Costs of Privatization: Extra Payments to Medicare Advantage Plans Jump to $11.4 Billion in 2009, estimates that since MA was enacted in 2004, $43 billion in extra payments have been made.

In the report, Brian Biles, professor of health policy at George Washington University and colleagues find that extra payments to MA plans will amount to an average of $1,138, or 13 percent over fee-for-service costs, for each of about 10 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. The $11.4 billion in extra payments in 2009 represents a 34 percent increase over 2008 payments, which totaled $8.5 billion. According to authors, the steep one-year increase was due to the increase in payment rates and enrollment in the private MA plans.

http://www.disabled-world.com/medical/healthcare/us-medicare/medicare-advantage-plans.php”

[december30]

08:17 PM on 12/20/2009

Why does anyone listen to morning Joe? LOL

[One more Thing]

08:03 PM on 12/20/2009

You can't say the debate hasn't helped fat cat investors!

[neesy08]

07:19 PM on 12/20/2009

why does everybody act as if this is the final bill? it isn't. you still have to merge the two bills. i prefer to wait and see wat happens. i'm not reay to panic and get all hot and bothered. i think they just wanted to get the bill out of the senate. i could be wrong, but, i'd rather have something out of the senate than nothing

[imworking4me]

06:46 PM on 12/20/2009

It was amazing to see Scarborough call out the insurance cartel and show what a sham the beill is better and more articulated than a lot of progressives have. Smiley put the topping on the cake by showing how this will provide scant benefit for the poor and many people of color.

[december30]

08:18 PM on 12/20/2009

Didn't you know morning joe is a joke like tavis smiley? LOL

[imworking4me]

12:03 AM on 12/21/2009

Where's the joke? In the Senate health "reform" bill??

[TrueThis]

12:47 AM on 12/21/2009

The poor and especially AA can't stand Smiley who basically helped to put some in the worst situations with his dealing with Well Fargo.

[imworking4me]

10:28 AM on 12/21/2009

Proof?

[djMikulec]

06:26 PM on 12/20/2009

We.
Were.
Phucked.

[Righterthenthou76]

05:57 PM on 12/20/2009

Shame on you Mr President, shame on the Republican party for being the "do nothing" party and shame on the American people for electing such corrupt and inept leaders. You get the leadership you deserve. and I've learned form my mistake. I will not be voting for one of the two parties for a long time to come. And I may not be voting at all if we don't get a major third party to stand up to the current crop of clowns in DC.

[nancytheragingliberal]

06:10 PM on 12/20/2009

R76: I'm interested in a well funded, strong third party. I will seriously consider voting there and hate to agree with Ralph Nader who said years ago, "There is no difference between dems and repubs. They are a corporation disguised as a person." Americans are so scr**ed.

[imworking4me]

12:19 AM on 12/21/2009

Nader's timing has suc ked in the past, but 2010 would be a good time for his sort of politics.

[sparky09]

09:40 PM on 12/20/2009

I'm with you, R76...fanned & faved...

[Righterthenthou76]

05:56 PM on 12/20/2009

Some historical perspective. This is not Clintion in 1994, when he and Hillary tired to shove an out of the mainstream plan on Congress. It is rather analogous to the compromise of 1850, which like the current bill, solved nothing, made minor concessions in the name of keeping the political class happy, and did nothing to heal the deep divisive nature of the debate. It like this bill kicked the can down the road for some other Congress and President to to go to war over. More then ever I see our healthcare debate ending in disaster and violence. The two sides are too rigid stuburn and stupid to come up with real soultions for real Americans. And most Americans are too stupid to question both sides, rather choosing to side with one political class or the other and doing nothing but adding to the deep divisive nature of the debate. This is a dangerous road people. The answer is not replacing liberals with conservatives who you just replaced in favor of liberals. Unless a third party rises quickly we are headed for ruin, there is noway around it, and bills like this seal that fate. There are ways to cover everyone who wants to be covered, but they may be politically incorrect and painful to Washington insiders who are used to legislative favors and being paid off by lobbyists. Obama is no different, he has shown no spine to stand up to the intrest groups and Washington tadition.

[Plebean]

05:50 PM on 12/20/2009

Hilarious...

Every pundit across the board thinks this bill is terrible.

[thirtyninesteps]

05:05 PM on 12/20/2009

Forget Scarborough. Tavis nailed it.

[december30]

08:21 PM on 12/20/2009

Tavis nailed what? This guy is a joke who does not know he is Black. LOL

When did he start holding Presidents accountable?