Reblogged: More Loot than TARP

[Gus Van Horn blog]

Dick Morris has penned a column about more of the goodies in Nancy "Pandora" Pelosi's ObamaCare Box. Just one of the many things that stood out to me was the following:

Robert Laszewski, a healthcare consultant, points out that ObamaCare is really a giant reinsurance program, capping the liability of health insurance companies. Under its provisions, the first $45,000 of payments to an insured patient come from the company's coffers. The taxpayer, through the federal government, then obligingly will pick up 80 percent of the remainder.

In addition, insurance companies are to estimate their payouts during the coming 12 months every year. If they miss, or the costs are greater than they supposed, the feds will pick up 80 percent of the overage. It is a kind of cost-plus deal for insurance companies.

All told,

insurance companies are to get $1 trillion in subsidies over the next 10 years

, a staggering amount of tax money.

They will make out far better than General Motors, defense contractors or any TARP recipient banks

. [links removed, emphasis added]

If by "make out better", you mean, "get some loot and lose all autonomy", then Morris is absolutely right.

The rest of the carnage is of the nature of what voters will feel on their own hides when, for example, "their current policies were shot out from under them by Health Department-forced cancellations". Like Karl Rove, Morris predicts electoral disaster for the Democrats. I expressed my doubts about that then, so I won't repeat myself now.

But I will add another misgiving: Let's say the Democrats doget what they deserve in November. Will the Republicans do anything remotely serious in the vein of permanently removing this albatross from our necks and moving our economy back in the direction of more freedom? Hint: The problem isn't that this enormous scheme of theft and meddling wasn't rolled out smoothly enough; it's that it exists al all.

-- CAV

Link to Original