Hidden Cost of Single Payer That No One is Talking About ($137,642,290,000.00)

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post_article ^ | December 14, 2009 | Stockpirate

[stockpirate]

One of the costs no one has mentioned concerning the health care bill is the cost to investors in the health insurance industry when their shares crash as the government option puts them out of business.

Millions of Americans are invested in the company's via 401K's, mutual funds, state and local retirement funds.

As the Public option kicks in and more health insurance companies are forced to downsize and they lose profits BILLIONS will be lost in stock holder equity in the stocks they hold.

Just look at the market cap of s a few of these companies.

AETNA INC. NEW(NYSE: AET) Market cap: $13.77 Billion

AFLAC INC(NYSE: AFL) Market cap: $21.78 Billion

AMERIGROUP CORP(NYSE: AGP) MArket cap: $1.28 Billion

ASSURANT INC(NYSE: AIZ) Market cap: $3.46 Billion

CIGNA CP(NYSE: CI) Market cap: $9.72 Billion

CENTENE CORP(NYSE: CNC) Market cap: $870.38 Million

HEALTH NET INC(NYSE: HNT) Market cap: $2.41 Billion

HUMANA INC(NYSE: HUM) Market cap: $7.11 Billion

TORCHMARK CP(NYSE: TMK) Market cap: $3.67 Billion

TRANSATLANTIC HLDS(NYSE: TRH) Market cap: $3.45 Billion

UNIVERSAL AMERICAN#(NYSE: UAM) Market cap: $849.9 Million

UNUM GROUP(NYSE: UNM) Market cap: $6.32 Billion

United Health Group, market cap $35b

WELLPOINT INC.(NYSE: WLP) Market cap: $25.9 Billion

TOTAL $137,642,290,000.00 in lost equity.

This figure doesn't include the millions of people working for these insurance company's who would lose their jobs.

[stockpirate]

I also think that lowering the Medicare age to 55 is a back door to single payer.

[dblshot]

Good point. Also what happens to someone like me who has been paying into a Long Term Care Plan for years so i won’t have to take the medicare nursing home nightmare? Do i get my money back since the LTC medical care won’t be available under a Gov’t only plan?

[dblshot]

Yep and you know what happens to military retirees who have TRICARE when they reach 65, right to medicare so if it goes to 55 we have a new plan.

[stockpirate]

Well consicering the dems were looking into taking over ALL private retirement plans and making everyone take SS, my guess is they will just steal your money as it wouldn’t be fair to others if you had a different plan now would it?

[autumnraine]

“One of the costs no one has mentioned concerning the health care bill is the cost to investors in the health insurance industry when their shares crash as the government option puts them out of business. “

I want all the liberals who are screaming for their precious public option to not say a word when they lose most of their retirement due to the stocks falling or even burning out.

The saddest part of all is that these morons wouldn’t know how to connect the dots and see how the two are related.

[autumnraine]

Oh yeah, and don’t forget the taxes that the health insurance companies pay... that will have to be made up somehow. If they are making drastically less money, they will be paying lower corporate taxes. Guess who is going to be left picking up the tab?

[stockpirate]

And all the while they will be sending our excess tax dollars to third world dictators to cover Gore_bull warming.

[stockpirate]

I didn’t even think about the lost taxes they wouldn’t be paying. So I guess we will mke up the difference, but we have so much it shouldn’t be a problem. /sarcasm

[Shermy]

Do you see one insurance company complaining?

Any Harry and Louise ads?

They control the bill. The “public option” was Obama’s gaff fake out to the left. It is a kabuki political play.

The best fake out, maybe one of the greatest and most expensive in history, was Obama’s continuation of the unconservative liberal-fascist “no bargaining” condition on Medicare drug purchases. Trillions of dollars from pockets like yours to drug companies over a decade. And he did this on the cover of getting them on the side of the “health bill”. LOL. More insureds profits them more, why on earth would they be against the HC bill?

Liberal media ate it up. Still think the pharma promise of purchasing ads was a good deal, or even happened.

[stockpirate]

Let’s not forget that GW sent billions to the pharma company’s with his AIDS to Africa and his prescription drug benefit program for seniors.

[Logical me]

It also does not include health care providers such as Kaiser group. They depend on Medicare. What about the doctors and other employees of these private hospitals such as the hundreds of community hospitals that heavily depend on private insurance and Medicare.

Another huge group of old age facilities will go down in bankruptcy since the cost of patient care will suffer a loss. Most of middle class and poor will not be able to pay for the additional cost.

Another loss of care will be organizations like SCAN that provide meals and health care for those that are home bound.

King Obama and the rotten communists party (formally Democratic Party) must be stopped.

[stockpirate]

Those are company’s that I may need to add to this list.

[schwingdoc]

And dont forget the domino effect of private insurance companies going bankrupt. The next domino is the private health care delivery system. Hospitals, Clinics, offices, nursing homes, pharmacies. Any delivery system which currently relies on private insurance payments will very soon go bankrupt as well. Private insurance Co’s subsidize these delivery systems on the huge losses they take from the government patients. So when Private insurance co payments go away, these delivery systems will all start to collapse as well.

Then the inevitable: Crises bill for capitalization of the health care delivery systems. Yes, a giant Bailout of hospitals, doc’s offices, clinics etc. And then government ownership. Just expanding Medicare to 55yo could spell disaster for most docs.

This is an organized destruction of our healthcare system.
Any legislation that is passed will ultimately lead to widespread bankruptcy of the health care delivery systems, and a bailout that will make the housing collapse and the bank bailout look like pocket change.

[stockpirate]

Those are company’s that I may need to add to this list.

[1776 Reborn]

We never hear anything about all the jobs that would be lost in healthcare insurance as well. Those are private sector jobs so nobody cares.

[stockpirate]

The jobs lost would require me to research how many people are employed at each company, makes my head spin thinking about it.

[Mom MD]

Actually those of us in private community hospitals depend on private insurance to make up the deficit we incur for taking care of medicare patients.

Medicare does not even cover the cost of taking care of their patients. Then, rather than dealing with massive fraud, medicare comes to our hospitals and audits charts with a fine tooth comb looking for reasons not to pay. In addition to not paying for charts they don’t like for various reasons, they fine the hospital millions of dollars for supposed infractions. Is it any wonder I cannot get any physicians to agree to take new medicare patients when I discharge them from the hospital?

Now we want to add more people to this system? Add to your list of bankruptcies most hospitals/private practice physicians.....

[Mom MD]

sorry, didn’t see your post before I posted much the same. I am having a good time going around the hospital asking all the nurses who proudly voted for Obama how they are going to like their 20% pay cut. That is if they still have a job...

[kempo]

I think it will be a double whammy. All of these people in the private health care sector would be moved over into the public sector increasing the number of government employees by tens of thousands. You what that means. More debt and more taxes. Just what we need.