Insurance Stocks Plunge as Medicare for All Bill Unveiled With Major Support

[pecosbob]

Support for Medicare for All is rapidly gaining momentum in Congress — and insurance investors are starting to get nervous.

Health insurance stocks tanked on Wednesday as Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced comprehensive Medicare for All legislation with the backing of more than 100 House Democrats and major progressive organizations, including America’s largest nurses’ union and national consumer advocacy groups.

“The S&P 500 Managed Health Care Index plunged as much as 4.9 percent, the most since Dec. 6, led by UnitedHealth Group Inc., Humana Inc., and WellCare Health Plans Inc.,” Bloomberg reported after Jayapal unveiled her bill during an event on Capitol Hill. “Insurers UnitedHealth and Cigna Corp, which also own the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, were both down about four percent.”

more at https://truthout.org/articles/insurance-stocks-plunge-as-medicare-for-all-bill-unveiled-with-major-support/

[global1]

1. And Wall Street Will Survive Medicare For All Just Like It Survived.....

the Affordable Care Act when it was being proposed and being voted on.

[pecosbob]

2. Yes, the market does seem rather adaptable in the long run does it not? Always has been in the past

[kennetha]

3. The Affordable Care Act is a market based solution

that merely regulates private insurance, for the most part. In exchange, it was intended to make many more customers available to the industry through the individual mandate.

Medicare for All envisions ELIMINATING most private health insurance in one fell swoop, a hugely profitable sector of the economy, in which MANY individual and institutional investors are invested.

If you don't expect that will cause disruption in the economy, you are dreaming. Perhaps the disruption will be balanced out by other things ... the total cost of health coverage will go down. But there will be tons of losers as well as winners when these burdens are shifted and a new equilibrium reached.

[global1]

6. I'm On Medicare Right Now....

One needs to carry a secondary insurance to cover the costs Medicare doesn't pick up. That secondary insurance coverage is offered by private insurance companies. So there will always be a need for private health insurance. The benefit of MFA is that every American will by right have a basic level of healthcare coverage. Also more standardization in the administration of the plan in terms of standardized forms and less paperwork for providers.

[kennetha]

10. Not in Sanders plan.

He makes that very explicit. The only room for private insurance will be to cover optional things, things like elective cosmetic surgery. "You want a nose job, you get private insurance."

[spinbaby]

4. Medicare supplement insurance has got to be profitable

They wouldn’t be advertising it so much if it weren’t highly profitable.

[gratuitous]

7. Indeed

And, even if we get access-for-all health care, there will ALWAYS be doctors and clinics willing to service wealthy patients on demand for a little extra. And insurance companies can make a lot of coin selling policies that allow people to jump the line.

Citizens who take reasonable steps to plan their health care and doctor visits will see their care providers in a timely fashion and be able to adapt to and navigate the system.

[kennetha]

11. Under Sanders plan it will be illegal

for private insurance companies to offer coverage for ANY service covered under the government plan.

there would only be room for private insurers to cover things like cosmetic surgery NOT covered under the government plan.

That means that if the government plan offers comprehensive coverage, that would be the ONLY option.

[gratuitous]

13. Good luck getting that passed

On a scale of things to worry about from 1 to 10, this would be a -3.

[Sgent]

18. There is no way that is constitutional

if a MS insurance company wants to contract with MS patients and MS doctors, I'm not sure this would pass constitutional muster -- and that was before the recent stacking of the court.

[fescuerescue]

19. That sounds fairly dystopian

Why bother making it illegal? It will either be worse than the government option, or will be better.

If it's worse, people won't use it. If it's better, then people will and it will save the tax payers money.

Outright banning free-enterprise seems like a Russian solution.

[SoCalNative]

5. Good!

Nothing would make me happier than all of the health insurance companies going bankrupt.

[global1]

8. They Will Not Go Bankrupt....

They may need to size down but they will become more efficient in the process. Their efficiency will result in continued profit as they learn to deal with the new reality of MFA.

Anytime there is any change in status quo - people will overeact and think the worst. They will adjust and thrive as MFA becomes the new reality.

[pecosbob]

9. There's no need to 'eliminate' health-care insurers

the market will force those comanies to adapt.

[kennetha]

12. But Sanders would eliminate them by fiat.

Because his plans make it ILLEGAL for any private insurer to cover services also covered by the government.

His plans also makes it ILLEGAL for employers to offer their employees such insurance.

[pecosbob]

14. Sanders says a lot of dumb shit IMO

Not my favorite pol...way too obliging to the gun manufacturers.

[kennetha]

15. totally agree

He is a intellectually and ideologically rigid demagogue, who has been signing the same tune for decades and decades, without ever adjusting to realities on the ground. It's a complete mystery to me why he is so popular with so many in our party. Following him on his Quixotic crusades for unattainable goals would be a complete disaster.

[pecosbob]

16. That's not to say he doesn't say some things I agree with

He was one of the first public figures I can recall that called for a living wage and championed some worthy goals when he was a lone voice in a wilderness of silent Democratic figures. Dennis Kucinich said some some righteous stuff as well...doesn't mean that I would vote for for them though.

[AwakeAtLast]

17. Sending thoughts and prayers!