Full article at link
Posted on 05/15/2012 8:30:57 AM PDT by opentalk
Even though they've bankrupted Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac --and failed miserably with "Great Society" and trillions in welfare --Democrats now want you to fund new non-profit health insurers.
What could go wrong?
Republicans in the Senate and House questioned whether a Health and Human Services’ (HHS) $3.4 billion loan program to create non-profit health insurers would result in the greater competition and lower costs. In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the members noted that the Department’s own actuarial estimates suggest at least $1 billion in taxpayer dollars may inevitably be wasted.
...“HHS may be seriously underestimating the financial risk that these new entities pose to the Federal Treasury,” the members wrote. “Recent reports have highlighted the challenges facing CO-OPs, which strongly suggests that the program will fail to provide consumers with promised viable alternatives or reduced costs. The new health care law is unfortunately already exacerbating this problem. As a result, many individuals and small businesses are confronting the reality of fewer choices and higher costs when purchasing health insurance.”
Given prior failures in government lending, including huge loans to now bankrupt Solyndra, the members requested responses to a number of questions, including that the Department correctly assess both the measures it has established to protect taxpayer funds and the process by which HHS has awarded the CO-OP loans. Earlier this year, Senator Coburn highlighted the problems with CO-Ops in a report, Warning: Side Effects, warning that they could be the Solyndra of the President’s health care law and waste millions of taxpayer dollars.
Full article at link
The list, Ping
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I know Sebelius is only doing what she’s told, but that doesn’t prevent me from wanting to see her staked to an antpile.
This is the “public option” that Barry promised Dennis Kucinich in order to get his vote.
Great article. Similar to this one by a free market economist:
IMHO, this is all about control.
There’s no practical reason that a non-profit or not-for-profit insurance company couldn’t be set up within the current tax/regulation/business framework.
Heck, unions seem to think they know so much about insurance (not to mention every other industry they infest) - why don’t they set up their own non-profit insurance companies? Without profit, they should be able to price below profit-based insurance and offer the same services, right?
Leftists ought to put their money where their collective mouths are. If profit is so bad, they should start their own companies in the industries they presume to regulate that don’t have the profit motive and see just how well that works out.
Where are the Leftist non-profit oil exploration companies? The Leftist non-profit insurance companies? The Leftist non-profit car companies? The Leftist non-profit technology companies? The Leftist non-profit banks?
Surely, if they know so much more about running businesses than the evil capitalists, they should be able to out-compete them absent the profit motive.
That is, “greater competition and lower costs” from the allegedly non-profit heath insurance company will result in market capture … again. The “non-profit” insurance companies will magically undercharge for insurance capturing the entire insurance market.What Secretary Sebelius is talking about is the crony capitalist’s dream, a public-private partnership, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the mortgage market.
Bingo! A way to do Obamacare EVEN IF THE SUPREME COURT STRIKES IT DOWN!!!!
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