Extortion by any other name

Founding Ideals ^ | September 13, 2010

[agee]

You know that when the Wall Street Journal uses the word "thuggish", to describe a letter from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that the contents must be serious. Normally the WSJ prefers terms like "political hard ball" and "aggressive tactics". We have another more straightforward name for this type of Chicago style politics - extortion.  

The Government has heaped a massive amount of regulation onto insurance companies and that has driven their costs up. This fact is understandingly unpopular with the consumers that purchase health insurance, as they were promised that healthcare reform would lower costs. Many consumers and employers are getting a sense of the cost of regulation as their new health insurance premiums rise and insurance companies have been trying to inform their clients why costs are going up so dramatically. That doesn't sit well with the Don of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius.  

Sebelius's solution to the unpopular fact that government regulation is driving costs up is to threaten insurance companies....

[November 2010]

Any educated person will know this is fascism. No hyperbole at all. This is fascism. Interlocking government and corporations under threat of government destruction of any dissenters.

[rj45mis]

This can only happen under a democrat regime where the media have sold their souls to socialism.

[ClearCase_guy]

All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
--Benito Mussolini

Fascists allow the illusion of private property -- but businesses must work toward the goals set by the state or suffer punishments, and in return, the state will give sweet deals to those corporations which eagerly support the regime.

Yup. This is fascism.

[RachelFaith]

Any educated person will know this is fascism. No hyperbole at all. This is fascism. Interlocking government and corporations under threat of government destruction of any dissenters.

You are 50% correct. You are missing the most scary element. It is ISLAMIC Fascism.

Look at what laws he is going after. Financial. Compare HOW he deals with the law and it IS Sharia compliant.

This ain't hyperbole either. He is just USING the useful idiots on the left. This is why he didn't care if they all LOSE in 2010 after voting for it. He has an agenda. It is an ANTI AMERICAN agenda. It IS an Islamic agenda.

[November 2010]

Great post.

[November 2010]

The insurance industry needs to run ads denouncing this as fascist . . . while they still can.

[ClearCase_guy]

I heard a woman on the radio months ago talking about this sort of thing. She said she worked for an insurance company and that everyone knew that the Health Care reform would destroy the small insurance companies. It's pretty much designed to do that (she had details, which I mostly forget).

No one cares about small insurance companies -- so they have no real voice.
Big insurance companies believe that they will scoop up the remnants of the small firms, so they aren't all that unhappy.
Basically, if a nation of 310M people are mandated to buy your product, although some details may seem unfortunate, in general the Insurance industry is prepared to play along.

[November 2010]

Love of money is the root of much evil.

[agee]

It would seem that the government is setting up a cartel of insurers. Like any other cartel, this allows price fixing, and also makes the barrier to compete very high. With "financial reform" coupled with "health care reform" the government is creating an environment where big businesses can succeed, but little business gets the short end of the stick.

  Remember the new IRS reporting requirements hidden in the healthcare bill? Piece of cake if you a multi billion dollar company. You already have the staff and procedures in place to handle this bureaucratic nightmare. A huge expense for the little guy.

  A few large corporations operating as a cartel are much easier to co-opt for the "public good" than hundreds of small competing entities.

 agee

[Skepolitic]

“The insurance industry needs to run ads denouncing this as fascist . . . while they still can.”

No way. Insurance executives want to stay in business even if it means they must operate under a corporatist regime. In some ways, corporatist fascism makes the executives’ lives easier. That’s why the insurance industry did not run “Harry & Louise” ads last year. The AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry organization) even issued public statements that supported certain aspects of ObamaCare.

It’s worth noting the the managed care sector of the insurance industry donated about three times more to Democrats than to Republicans in the 2008 cycle. See http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?ind=H03. The HMOs are active supporters of Obama’s plan to fundamentally transform America.

For an interesting, but somewhat speculative, analysis of the collusion of the managed care sector of the insurance industry with ObamaCare supporters, see http://covertrationingblog.com/weird-fact-about-insurance-companies/why-the-health-insurance-industry-supported-obamacare.

[pabianice]

Never fear. The Boston Globe Workers Circle has an article that soft-peddles Obama's thuggery by making it seem not only reasonable but essential for the wellfare of the public. It's not a "threat," it's a 'caution.' In fact, the Globe welcomes your response.

[November 2010]

Ack. So it’s the doctors and the public against the insurance companies and the government? We are outgunned financially.