Socialism At Its Finest
The Grey Matter Blog does a nice little bar chart on insurance profitability; “Socialist” Obamacare a boon to insurance companies” since the passage of the PPACA in 2010. I gotta say this is nothing like what I would have expected to happen; but, I have to acknowledge my other blogger-foil’s told-you-so remarks to me repeatedly.
With all of those socialism programs we liberal put out there, who would have thought the healthcare insurance racket would do so well under government regulation? Only one insurance company failed to outperform the S&P.
Cheer up Run, the transition is just beginning.
Think out 5 or 6 years, the intended and unintended consequences, and lots is going to get wrecked.
The wreckage in the provider system will, in a few years, get the most attention for a while. And the changes in the employment market.
healthcare.gov is not a long term problem, but it is a symptom.
I am not sure what you are saying Rusty…the pre-ACA system seemed bound to failure except for the well off, increasingly not for the simply middle or less.
STB:
I guess a little sarcasm can go a long way with you. In fact, insurance companies have thrived well under the PPACA, the same as the healthcare industry will do so over the next decade till the PPACA morphs into single payer.
@Save_the_rustbelt
I guess some supporting data would be to much to ask for?
dan,
“the pre-ACA system seemed bound to failure except for the well off, increasingly not for the simply middle or less.”
To paraphrase rdan to any conservative commenter:
“LINK PLEASE………!.”
The info I have is that 87%of the 85% who had health insurance were happy with it: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/mar/10/george-will/will-says-95-percent-people-health-insurance-are-s/
Sammy:
Most people do not know what a good premium is or a good plan for that matter if it bit them in the ass. It is not a matter of keeping them happy, it is a matter of meeting minimum requirements for woman and for men whether the guy gets pregnant or not. The instances of over paying under the PPACA have been discredited http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/surprise-surprise-media-lying-us-about-ano. Insurance companies also scammed the average citizen since the passing of the law in 2010 by selling these plans knowing full well they would not meet standards;
2) Insurers then proceeded to sell a bunch of temporary plans that they knew would be subject to elimination under the ACA due to inadequate coverage. The Right then hyped up that people would “lose” those plans–even though only 3% of Americans are covered by them, even though they’re terrible plans, and even though they were only created after the ACA’s passage. http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-obamacare-revolt-that-isnt-by.html
Just looking at the increase in healthcare cost and the increased numbers of uninsured since the failure to pass Hillarycare is an indicator of an imminent failure of pre-ACA healthcare insurance. While healthcare growth is sustainable at 1% GDP as shown by Sheiner and Lafollette in rebuttal to Elmendorf, it certainly could not be sustained at the 7% – 9% growth pre-ACA. Certainly you would acknowledge the soon to be control of GDP by healthcare as forecasted?
I thought the whole crux of Obama’s approach was to put the medical insurers on welfare in exchange for giving the government a regulatory wedge. Since most corporations would be flat stone broke without government welfare payments, the medical insurers accepted 20% off the top in exchange for a few regulations. Of course, the game will be different in ten or twenty years, so we’ll have to see.
I should have pointed out that in Washington State, at least, the insurers have a cap on “in plan” medical providers, but no cap on “out of plan” providers. This is going to put a lot of pressure on the industry as being “out of plan” will be a lot more tricky than it is now. My guess, and I’m probably wrong, is that the insurers will become more and more like HMOs, basically putting their providers on salary by some mechanism or other. Given that Medicare has shown that insurer overhead should be closer to 5% than 20%, they are playing an interesting game. When push comes to shove, my guess is that the insurers will own the providers.
Using the company VisionCare as an example, this model of putting people on salary appears to be a growing one.
Most corporations are amoral and simply want to generate income…
“Most people do not know what a good premium is or a good plan for that matter if it bit them in the ass. It is not a matter of keeping them happy, it is a matter of meeting minimum requirements for woman and for men whether the guy gets pregnant or not.”
Now we have to be gate keepers for the low information consumers, whom I assume are to indolent to inform themselves…
Hans:
You exhibit the same ignorance as they do.
Yes, Mr Run, that is true…The Ignorant Insurance companies thought that by laying in bed with the Chief Devil himself, they would profit eternally…Now they have destroyed their own customer base because of greed and the lack of principals…
When is the governmental units going to tell me when to change my underwear?
BTW, now watch the industry under perform the S&P 500…