Monday, August 24, 2009
The insurance companies have the champagne on ice
And they have probably even sampled a few bottles every time Kent Conrad and Max Boughtcus open their mouths. The LA Times has a look at the joyful faces in the insurance companies.
Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied its lobbying and grass-roots resources so successfully in the early stages of the healthcare overhaul deliberations that it is poised to reap a financial windfall.There is still some concern because the public option is not yet DOA, but the thought of all those new mandatory customer, without any pesky option and all the reforms watered down to nothingness and a new even lower payout percentage, What's not to love. Hell, they may even keep their death panels.
The half-dozen leading overhaul proposals circulating in Congress would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee insurers tens of millions of new customers -- many of whom would get government subsidies to help pay the companies' premiums.
"It's a bonanza," said Robert Laszewski, a health insurance executive for 20 years who now tracks reform legislation as president of the consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates Inc.
Some insurance company leaders continue to profess concern about the unpredictable course of President Obama's massive healthcare initiative, and they vigorously oppose elements of his agenda. But Laszewski said the industry's reaction to early negotiations boiled down to a single word: "Hallelujah!"
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