Was Obamacare designed to create an insurance monopoly? ( conspiracy )

submitted by senpaithatignoresyou

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/business/dealbook/anthem-cigna-health-insurance-deal.html?_r=0

http://www.bullfax.com/?q=node-justice-department-moves-block-2-big-health-insurance-m

Currently there are two big mergers underway, and currently the government is trying to stop them. In a normal environment, these mergers would be dead, and have no chance in hell.

But obamacare has made it very hard for these companies to operate. Now, this can be for one of two reasons:

Politicians are stupid and wrote an industry destroying law

Politicians are crooked and wrote a competition destroying law.

Because of the strain put on by obamacare, the insurance industry can claim that they need these mergers to survive in this environment. If the mergers get shot down, then they have new ammunition to push for government subsidies and tax cuts for their industry.

the big question is: Was this law designed to cause this, or is the insurance industry taking advantage of a stupid law to consolidate into one hyper company/get more corporate welfare?

toobaditworks

It was written by insurance companies.

canbot

If someone runs into you and has no insurance you are fucked. You can try to sue them but that would cost you more in time and money then it is worth. And if the damages are so high that it is worth suing, say you are crippled, then that person can't pay anyway because they don't have that kind of money.

So in some cases it does make sense to force everyone to have insurance. It just needs to be regulated, because obviously the insurance will try to screw everyone over.

glennvtx

It does not need to be regulated, beyond a set minimum coverage. In fact, less regulation would be preferable. A coop would be a good way to cover this, but due to government regulation, you don't see this.

canbot

I have a feeling that no one here knows what the arguments were for Obamacare. You denounce the media for their bias an propaganda and then rely on them to inform you.

The part of Obama care that was going to bring down costs was the singe payer program. It was removed after the Republicans boycotted the spending bill causing all non essential government offices and services to shut down.

We pay several times more for every medical service then any other first world country. Studies have shown that we do no receive better medial treatment. I have witnessed first hand how hospitals will scam the system by keeping patients over night for no reason and be extremely wasteful so they can bill multiple times for things that are ridiculously marked up.

The system is crumbling under the wight of medical extortion.

Tb0n3

Yeah. The whole point was single payer, but now people complain it sucks after it got gutted. No shit. This isn't what we wanted.

SomewhatNeutral

Obama did not start with single payer much less a public option. He chickened out and went with the Republican plan, AKA mandates.

pitenius

The extortion funded uninsured patients. Like Hollywood, the books are balanced on the back end. The up-front numbers are "whatever you think you can get away with".

canbot

If that were true then prices would be coming down now that everyone is insured. It was always just an excuse. The truth is they do it because they can and the money pays for their lavish life styles.

pitenius

Well, prices have come down somewhat. Even more importantly, the billing is more opaque, but it is possible now to watch the hospitals and ObamaCare providers play a mexican stand-off fame, even when they are directly communicating, now.

As for the "lavish lifestyles" -- don't exempt doctors from that. People always do because they want to believe their doctor is good. There's a problem of scale here, and you'll see it crop up as it did with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If you get used to seeing ... say, a billion dollars moving around a day, you have little problem believing that your contribution is worth some measurable percentage. And that is extravagant. As the monopoly grows, watch this system become worse.

redditbelowsme

Well that appears to be what it is accomplishing, so I would say yes.

Javik2186

Now I see why I didn't signed up for Obamacare.

GIF-lLL-S0NG

rates going up 10-20% every year under obamacare whereas before they were going up 2-5%. Its good for business so it has to be good for you!