Obamacare-Backing Big Insurance - Looking to Again Expand Government Medicine
And Getting Bigger…
One heinous aspect of the heinous history of the woefully misnamed Affordable Care Act - aka Obamacare - was…and is…the vociferous backing of the inanity by huge insurance companies.
Notice I didn’t say small insurance companies. Few such animals still exist - most having already been murdered by government medicine programs.
Small insurance companies can’t afford all the crushing costs of huge government medicine - so they die.
Which is good for huge insurance companies. You know - less competition.
Also good for Big Insurance? A law mandating everyone in the nation purchase their products - which Obamacare did.
Did Big Insurance know the law was awful - and it would make their products MUCH more expensive? Of course they did. Bad news for We the People - great news for them.
On average, Obamacare doubled premiums and tripled deductibles for those of us subjected to its heinousness. Great news for Big Insurance.
Even better news…for Big Insurance? Government would hand them ongoing, rolling, huge rafts of cash - i.e. around $1 trillion in premium subsidies.
But Obamacare was so awful - those ongoing, rolling, huge rafts of cash…weren’t nearly enough. So President Barack Obama started unilaterally, illegally handing Big Insurance even more of our money.
So when the Donald Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans, God bless them all, started rolling back all the omni-directional Obamacare heinousness - we were delivered some of the most unsurprising headlines in the history of human communication.
Insurers Come Out Swinging Against New Republican Health Care Bill
Insurers Oppose Latest Republican Obamacare Repeal Effort
Insurers Oppose Repeal of Obamacare Individual Mandate
Not Even Insurance Companies Want Obamacare Repealed
“Not even” - should actually read “most especially.”
Because of the $1+ trillion in government money. Because of the government mandate We the People buy their stuff.
Who cares if government medicine always and everywhere makes things demonstrably, exponentially worse for 300+ million Americans?
There are Big Insurance executives’ estates to be maintained. And trillions of dollars of government money - covers a lot of lawn and house work.
So when any opportunity arises to increase government’s screwing up of medicine - Big Insurance is all the way down with the struggle.
Senators Release Plan to Lower Health Costs, End Surprise Bills
Because as has - yet again, very recently - been thoroughly demonstrated…government is excellent at lowering health costs.
A huge fan of this government medicine expansion - is a man by the name of Loren Adler:
“‘From a policy perspective, there’s a rationale that this is the ideal approach,’ said Loren Adler, the associate director of USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy….
“It’s possible that this option will upset provider groups, who risk receiving lower payments and having less leverage with insurance companies. Adler said these fears are mostly unfounded….”
Adler seems to be the media’s go-to fan of this latest attempt at government medicine expansion:
“Loren Adler, associate director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, estimated that the proposed benchmark payment rate provision could help lower health insurance premiums by about 0.5% across the country.”
Wow. A whole one-half of one percent. Maybe.
Government yet again assaulting the medical industry - to get a MAYBE 0.5% rate reduction.
Thank you, no. We the People pass. Congress - should not.
And this minuscule prospective reduction - is according to this guy Adler.
The media loves mentioning Adler’s college gig. But did you catch that “Brookings” reference?:
“Loren Adler is associate director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.”
“Brookings” - is the Brookings Institute. A Leftist “think” tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Did you catch the “Schaeffer” reference? “Schaeffer” - is Leonard D. Schaeffer.
Let’s flash back to February 2016, shall we?
Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy Established:
“Leonard D. Schaeffer, a trustee of both Brookings and the University of Southern California, has provided a gift of $4 million to establish the Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy….
“The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.”
That’s an extraordinary amount of coin. But that really ain’t nothing.
New Gift Strengthens USC Schaeffer Center’s Influence in Health Policy:
“Ten years after they created a research center at USC dedicated to advancing health policy, Leonard and Pamela Schaeffer have renewed their investment with a donation of $17 million….
“They established the center in 2009 and endowed it three years later with a $25 million gift.”
Tens of millions of dollars. Dedicated by Schaeffer - to affecting government medicine policy.
Which seemingly means - expanding government medicine…yet again to the benefit of Big Insurance.
And how, pray tell, did Schaeffer acquire so much money - that he can afford to donate this manner of big coin to affect government policy?
Let us flashback to October 2003, shall we?
Acquisition Would Create Nation's Largest Health Insurer:
“In a marriage of Blue Cross giants, Anthem Inc. agreed yesterday to buy WellPoint Health Networks for $16.4 billion in stock and cash, creating a company that would be the nation's largest health insurer….
“WellPoint's chief executive, Leonard D. Schaeffer, who created the company on the foundation of a successful turnaround of Blue Cross of California, will hand the reins to Larry Glasscock, Anthem's chief executive....Mr. Schaeffer, 58, a former government health care official, will be chairman.
“Mr. Schaeffer’s WellPoint holdings -- 3.3 million shares, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month -- jumped in value by more than $70 million yesterday, to over $300 million.
“He would also receive $27.5 million under a change-of-control clause in his contract and about $10 million more in executive retirement benefits, according to the WellPoint proxy and other filings.”
Well isn’t all of that utterly unsurprising.
Schaeffer - was a government health care official.
Who then became the key player in turning already-big insurance - into the biggest of Big Insurance.
And received more than $300 million by so doing.
And now he and his minions are trying to expand government medicine - to the benefit of Big Insurance.
How very DC of…everyone involved in this very terrible idea.
This first appeared in Red State.