Write a Poor Law; Quit Your Job; Profit

[stuy119]

ObamaCare's architects reap windfall as Washington lobbyists - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com

Nice to see that the more things change in DC, the more they stay the same!

 

[Liz]

Yes you did beat me to it! Well done :-)

 

[TxOnline]

Where are UHC & BCBS getting all of these funds to continue their lobbying efforts?

They have to maintain their 80/20 MLR's.
And, you know that they've spent millions for legal advice.

Maybe that's where all of our commissions are going!

 

[RayNY]

Maybe, when carriers and hospitals set their contracted rates in secret, they actually encourage higher rates. This means more MUST be spent on the same medical expenses, premium can be raised (while MLR stays constant) and overall profit rises as a result (since actual overhead/administrative expense has not changed).

Maybe, all of this money is being spent on lobbying for legislation that encourages this behavior by keeping all pricing and contract negotiations secret, while the appearance of regulation is imposed. In reality it's a lever to pull to generate free money at no additional work. To boot, if you guess wrong, the government will reimburse you, and is willing tax the public to help pay for these artificially high priced products. They even went so far as to require all citizens to use the system and participate.

But that's crazy, and couldn't possibly be true. There is no way these big companies that make up nearly a fifth of our country's GDP are working together in concert with lawmakers to make billions in profit on obscenely overpriced medical care and supplies.

 

[stuy119]

All I know is that carriers (at least in IL) are making their MLR numbers while paying 10%/5% commissions currently, so there should be no drop off down the line - if they expect the full scale help of their sales force.