“an army of lobbyists for drug companies, health insurance companies, and hospitals has teamed up to throw a high-dollar Capitol Hill fundraiser for Coakley...”?
Uh, exactly WHY would these morons assist in their own detruction?
>>Uh, exactly WHY would these morons assist in their own detruction?
Because the final, double-secret version of ObamaCare will take very good care of them with coverage mandates and no cap on fees or premiums, with Unca Sugah picking up the tab and printing money 24/7 to pay for it.
I've thought about that question, and my hypothesis is this:
These mega-insurance companies know that the House or Senate bill would, in the long or even medium term, kill off all private insurers, because of the mandate to cover pre-existing conditions, the multiple mandates to cover mental illness and other health-related conditions, the requirement that they absorb losses but kick back profits to the government, etc.
However...these insurers figure that all of this mega-regulation will kill of their smaller, less well-capitalized competitors first. And then, when the dust is settled and only a about 3 health insurance companies survive, they hope to repeal a good but of the law, either at the Congressional level, or at the level of the enabling regulations put out but the HHS.
They're trying to ride the beast of Statist regulation, rather than taking the more principled approach of killing the beast from the start.
follow the money
They understand the time-value of money stuff. It’s much better to have a windfall now than a long, sustained business plan over time. They’re hoping for a massive surge of money (which this atrocity will give them). The uppers at the companies will earn enough to live 10 generations very wealthy.
It doesn’t really matter to them if they get shut down later. The lower shlubs that work there will get screwed of course, as well as all the tax payers and people forced to pay inflated premiums.