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The one chart that proves Obamacare really is working (for the fascists)

hedgeless_horseman's picture




 

With the election cycle starting up again, we are going to be bombarded more and more with propaganda like this:  7 Charts That Prove Obamacare Is Working

I submit to you that, below, is the one chart that proves Obamacare really is working (for the fascists).

Since the Obama administration began pushing the healthcare reform bill in early 2009, the stock prices of the Big Five health insurers have done remarkably well, even vs. the S&P 500, and even without taking into account their phenomenal dividend yields.

Google Chart

 

Question: How many patients did Cigna, BCBS (Anthem), Aetna, United Healthcare, or Cigna diagnose or treat last month?  Last year?

Answer: Zero.

Read my article from last year: You have health insurance, but you cannot afford surgery? You should have bought HUM stock.

These are insurance companies...they are by definition intermediaries...not medical providers.  They don't diagnose or treat anyone.  They make money only by receiving premium payments, investing these payments, and by minimizing the physician reimbursements they make to the providers that actually provide healthcare. 

The insurance companies and their captured regulatory body, CMS, set the prices paid to doctors, not the providers.  The doctors have essentially zero negotiating power.  In fact, the fee schedule attached to the physician's contracts with the insurance companies is usually blank.  No shit.  Just think about the hubris of that for a while.  Some large hospitals may have a little bit of negotiating power, in smaller markets, but not much.

In fact, the Senate is set to vote on a bill, H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015.  Though H.R. 2 was overwhelmingly passed in the House by a vote of 392 to 37, the Senate delayed its vote.  If the Senate does not act before April 15 when the CMS will no longer hold claims, it will result in a 21 percent cut to physician reimbursements for Medicare, which will then rapidly reduce insurance company expenses when they follow suit by reducing their fee schedules, accordingly, but mark my words, if this happens it will not lower premiums, only raise the stock prices of the insurance companies.

 

So, the next time your congressman tells you that he is working to help reduce healthcare costs, ask the fascist how his Cigna stock is doing, and remember that the only surefire way to dramatically reduce healthcare costs is to remove the middlemen and allow market forces to return to healthcare. 

Don't agree with me?  Try this.  Call three local mechanics and ask how much an engine diagnosis and tune up costs.  You will likely receive three prices over the phone to compare.  No intermediary.  Next, call three doctors and ask how much an examination, x-ray, and any simple procedure like a complete blood test costs.  Good luck!  If mechanics can have transparent and affordable market pricing, then so can doctors, but only without the intermediaries.

 

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Thu, 04/16/2015 - 01:08 | 5997747 SixIsNinE
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what happened to Radical Marijuana's comment that was SUPER LONG even for RadMJ, on this thread yesterday?  Other comments also are gone.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 15:41 | 5996046 LithiumWarsWAKEUP
LithiumWarsWAKEUP's picture

"I will NOT vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife'. /ty, casa de ice

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:52 | 5994855 nah
nah's picture

AMERICA CHOOSES HEALTHCARE

.

NOT LIKE SOCIALIST COUNTRY'S

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:41 | 5994795 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

was this thread restarted and all prior comments deleted?

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 12:59 | 5995242 N3mo
N3mo's picture

Apparently. Kind of a shame too.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:34 | 5994750 Amy G. Dala
Amy G. Dala's picture

H.H., you think this is a fascist clampdown?  Obamacare was designed to end in chaos . . .but Hillary will fix it.  By 2020, medi cal licensure and DEA certification will be predicated on physicians contracting with CMS.

 

Anybody considering a career in medicine really needs their head examined.  Except for ER coding and billing.  Those guys are rock stars.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:30 | 5994723 Rock and Hard Space
Rock and Hard Space's picture

@cat, I'm pretty sure that issue was settled with the Civil War.  ps, the Constitutional side lost and it still took nearly a century for black men to be given any true human rights.

Anyway, my insurance cost doubled, and my out of pocket has more than quadrupled.   Luckily, the only reason we have had to go to a doctor for the past five years was my daughter's pediatric opthamologist.  The bill for that went from a $30 co-pay, to a $60 co-pay and $130 bill delivered after the fact.

What a deal!

But be happy that my part-time working neighbors, are now getting their health care for free, with NO co-pays or deductibles.

Success.

This is the EXACT reason why falling energy prices haven't "helped" the economy.  Those that used to spend the most on materialism and bullshit, are finding their basic life necessities more than they can afford.

No inflation, full employment and food stamps and free Xanax for most!  Yeah!

 

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:28 | 5994697 Falconsixone
Falconsixone's picture

I'm thinking of starting a health insurance company. It's only a penny a year but it wont cover anything. You'll be able to say you have healthcare. And you will. Just don't have any problems and you'll be fine.....yeah! 

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:10 | 5994583 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Not just them. Medicare and Medicaid work swimmingly for Obama voters and spoiled baby boomers intending to take thirty years to die at taxpayer expense.

Young, healthy, hardworking people who would cheerfully pay cash for routine care as long as they have catastrophic coverage? They're the ones who get to pay for stomach staples and liver transplants for deadbeats.

You know what? If "death panels" had actually been on the table, Obamacare would have been the best idea to come out of DC in generations. Rich people's cats get better and cheaper care than their employees' children because the option to have the cat destroyed and be done with it is always an option.

Unfortunately, it's still a crime where my mother lives to ask a doctor to put the old bitch down, no matter how old, decrepit and ornery she might get, how loudly my wife would cheer, how greatly my father's quality of life would improve or how much time and money would be wasted keeping her alive that could be devoted to saving the lives of people whose best years are ahead of them, not behind them.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:03 | 5994541 Ban KKiller
Ban KKiller's picture

Divest your assets and join the free shit army. Get rid of debt and join the free shit army. Become Congressman and join FREE SHIT ARMY! 

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:24 | 5994359 Crocodile
Crocodile's picture

HILLARY WANTS TO BE YOUR CHAMPION

Unless you hold biblical moral values, which most of you do not; so she is your champion and America needs a champion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Getting Started" - Hillary For America, which means the antithesis "Hillary Against America" (Haa).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uY7gLZDmn4

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:32 | 5994740 donsluck
donsluck's picture

Biblical Values, like infanticide, mass murder, forbidding women from talking in church, etc. There may be a God, but why worship the bastard?

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:59 | 5994209 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Nice Write-Up HH. You provide a new perspective, a fresh voice.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:40 | 5994116 Billy Sol Estes
Billy Sol Estes's picture

I love showing the graph of UNH to friends, so lovely.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:32 | 5994070 centerline
centerline's picture

Where did all the comments go from yesterday?  WTF?

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 12:48 | 5995171 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

Where indeed, centerline: "23116 reads" surely got more than one page of comments!

 

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:05 | 5994250 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Comments from the header articles from yesterday all went "poof"!

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:53 | 5994490 centerline
centerline's picture

Seems like they went "poof" from the main articles too.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:37 | 5994098 MEAN BUSINESS
MEAN BUSINESS's picture

She's breaking up Captain!!! 6,000,000

Scotty, you gotta get to 6!!!

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:31 | 5994066 Agstacker
Agstacker's picture

My wife and I are self employed and choose not to have insurance as the costs were well above the tax penalty for not having insurance.  She had a head tremor that she wanted to get checked out and called around to neurologists to see what the cost of a consult would be.  When she spoke to the receptionist and told here that she was self pay and didn't have insurance, the receptionist said 'What do you mean you don't have insurance?  You are REQUIRED to have insurance.'

 

Fascisim is right.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:18 | 5994329 Crocodile
Crocodile's picture

Doctor's that accept self-pay customers are aiding in the intentional violation of the Affordable Care Act and will open themselves to lawsuits---take that to your Insurance company who is placed there only to collect fees and control medical distribution.

--------------

It is nice that you can call 3 auto mechanics and ask how much to fix or replace something and decide the best value for you. Call a 3 specialists and ask how much a procedure will cost you and they cannot tell you.  Reason: the auto mechanic does not have some arbitrary intermediary collecting money for nothing and telling the mechanic how much they can charge and will receive; while the doctor has a gun to his head and the patient is at the mercy of the one who has a gun to the doctor's head.....talk about a dead Constitution.

---------------------------

But hey you voted

Getting Started  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uY7gLZDmn4

for "Hope and Change"; I did not and I'm not about to vote for a "Champion" - see Hilary's new campaign ad. "

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:55 | 5994114 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

I actually had a doctor drop me because I refused to have my testing done with her employer, a giant "non profit" (read non tax paying) hospital that was charging me 1200.00 for a procedure- wherein I found a private lab which would provide the exact same test and result for 270.00 because I was paying for it.

 

She told me that I was no longer a good "fit" for her and perhaps I should look for another provider. Just want to say "Fuck You" to our leaders who pass legislation without reading it which was only intended to bail out health insurers. Thanks for the sodomy.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:31 | 5994389 Ozlo
Ozlo's picture

I'm self employed also, they dropped my insurance 8/14. Now I'm fined $10.00 a month for not having insurance. Can you imagine what the monthly fine will be in 10 years.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:39 | 5994415 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

My fine this year (360.00) was less than one month's premiums. This year, I am spending in excess of 5k out of pocket which I will be able to write off. In calculating medical expenses, I am now wondering if "my shared responsibility payment or fine" can be included in my medical expenses for 2015.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:58 | 5994517 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

I too am self-employed and have chosen the "fine" over the outrageous "tax" they call "healthcare".

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:14 | 5994610 ATM
ATM's picture

I cannot understand why anyone would choose to pay more for "insurance" that they can buy at any time, rather than the tax.

For me the tax is more than the premiums so I buy the "insurance".

 

I put "insurance" in parentheses because it really isn't insurance any longer. Insurance is risk shifting and what we have now is simply prepaid care. What risk is there in me going for an annual checkup? Or for a simply blood test? Insurance shouldn't pay for such foreseen events.

Insurance is the transfer of risk. I have risk that I could get cancer or have a heart attack. That's what insurance is is for, not this bullshit feel good worthless country club annual check up crap.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:19 | 5994645 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

Excellent comment. Love that you make so much- that the fine is worse than the insurance. Good for you.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:51 | 5994428 Crocodile
Crocodile's picture

"Shared Responsibility" - love that propaganda phrase, but it is true....meaning that is how it appears on the tax forms.

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:10 | 5993980 Burt Gummer
Wed, 04/15/2015 - 10:29 | 5994381 Crocodile
Crocodile's picture

Pray that Ben Carson will run and win; Rand Paul is a shill; he is not Ron Paul...not even close.

Dr. Benjamin Carson's Amazing Speech at the National Prayer Breakfast with Obama Present

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFb6NU1giRA

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:05 | 5993967 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Are not we all??

Wed, 04/15/2015 - 09:04 | 5993962 cat writer
cat writer's picture

Secession and separation--I second the motion!

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