Good Day PIBbers! I have been asked to update a couple of items that were previously posted in the ProSchools Insurance Blog. Specifically, we’ll look at the latest news concerning
- The “Obamacare” plan. Now our President has asked that it not be called “Obamacare,” but we’ll call it that anyway. There’s a lot of news here and links will be provided! This is going to be interesting…
Read on for LOTS more!
The “Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act,” as it’s officially known (Not Obamacare, by the way) is a sweeping encyclopedia of legislation that is going to affect every legal citizen or visitor in the United States. One of questions I see ofter deals with who is covered by the plan? Answer: Only those legally in the United States. Illegal immigrants will NOT have any options under the Act. A couple of more interesting takes on the legislation come from our partners in the cyber-sphere, and I thank all of them for their fine contributions to the digital forum.
Our first out-link is to InsuranceNews.net which claims that this reform is going to seriously impact insurer profitability. Since the legislation has been signed, a few health insurers have already been complying with the new regulations and they’re learning that it’s costing them a LOT of money. Take this quote from the article:
Weiss (Weiss Research) found that companies already complying in 2009 had average net profit margins of only 0.7%, while those not yet complying had average net margins of 6.3%, or nine times more.
The pundits are already claiming (correctly??) that additional costs being added to the administrative side of the legislation will make most carriers unprofitable by 2015. So, is the federal government going to initiate another “stimulus plan” to bail out the health carriers when profits plummet and they start to shutter their doors? Hmmm…could this be part of a conspiracy to have the feds control all health care? Not likely, it’s probably just the conspiracy theorist in me rearing its ugly head, and the feds rarely can think far into the future in any case.
In an article that follows right on the heels of reduced profit potential, the Oregon Legal Journal has a piece on this as well. According to the article, the brokerage firm Edward Jones suggests that investors “avoid U.S. health insurers after the reform.” The brokerage firm has downgraded the ratings on the stocks of three health insurers it covers - UnitedHealthGroup, Inc WellPoint, Inc and Aetna, Inc - from “hold” to “sell” last Friday. These are the three largest U.S. health insurers. Click HERE for the article.
Our next venture into the world of health care deals with an article posted online by CBS News that gives a basic time line for the implementation of the Act, similar to what I posted a couple of weeks ago. The difference is that CBS doesn’t moderate any comments posted to the article, and this makes for some interesting reading. I don’t think the people in this country are too thrilled about the legislation. Take a read and let me know if you have any comments on THEIR comments!
Finally, a look at the lawsuits that have been filed against the plan. As of this date, (as best I can tell), 20 states have filed lawsuits over the legislation and a number of individuals have filed suit as well, primarily claiming that the legislation is unconstitutional. That’s an interesting point and ultimately it’s going to be up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here are a couple of links to get your juices flowing on the litigation area:
MSNBC article: Click HERE for the article
Virginia information via FindLaw.com: click HERE for the specific article
Reuters has the most recent article I could find: Click HERE for this interesting piece.
As always, your comments are welcome.
-Gary