RW radio guy said the reform will kill the insurance industry

[Enrique]

Dennis Prager, this is.

I called in and asked him, why did health stocks rally today?

He said he didn't know they did. I said yeah, they're leading the market.

Then he said, ok, I think the market is wrong. He said let's use some logic, how can a company prosper when their profits are capped? I said, they'll find some loophole. He didn't have much of an answer to that, other than to say again that he didn't trust the market.

Maybe a few of his listeners will realize he's full of shit.

[Turbineguy]

1. Yes. Right.

But not correct.

[TornadoTN]

2. Why would they fail?

They are going to benefit handsomely from this "reform". Plenty of tax dollars will be fed into their coffers as rates continue to climb.

[Bluebear]

3. I had to sit next to him on a flight once...

Total blowbag.

[maxsolomon]

4. Would that it were so.

Remove the Antitrust exemption. From MLB, too.

[maxsolomon]

5. doooop

[jtrockville]

6. I wish he were right. I wish they'd fail.

But he sounds like a lunatic with no knowledge or facts to back up his assertion.

[Richardo]

7. Wait, he DIDN'T trust the market?

That's RW apostasy, right there.

[rbixby]

19. I was just going to mention that

If you can't trust the invisible hand of the free market, who can you trust?

[silverweb]

8. One can hope.

I'm afraid we have a very long way to go before that happy day, however, and years of work yet to do.

[KamaAina]

9. And this is a problem why, exactly?

:shrug:

[girl gone mad]

10. Because buggy whip manufacturers are vital to our econ...

oh, wait!

[dembotoz]

11. oh please, please please, please, please

single payer was and is the ONLY rational solutuion.

[Flaneur]

12. If only that were true.

The health insurance industry is a parasite. Kill it, please.

[StarfarerBill]

13. And my reply to that is:

:nopity:

[immoderate]

14. Dennis Prager is a schmuck!

I haven't used that word in years, but it fits Dennis so well. :)

I can't imagine what he could say that I might find as having merit.

--imm

[DailyGrind51]

15. Where is the problem here? Let's bury the insurance industry before they bury us!

[madinmaryland]

16. He loves the Insurance Industry, but doesn't trust the Market??

:wtf:

What a moran!

[Mithreal]

17. They think what they are told. Authoritarian mindsets

don't allow questioning even when faced with contradictory information.

Won't even recognize it as contradictory I suspect.

[karynnj]

18. I wonder if we can use the example of AT&T before divestiture

The insurance companies are in some places monopolies (or close to it) and in others oligopolies. AT&T over a 100 years ago traded the acceptance of regulation for being able to be a monopoly. This was actually an idea proposed by one of their early CEOs, Vail. For those who don't remember the Bell System before 1984, they provided excellent service, invested very heavily in research that developed not just better, cheaper technology but contributed to basic research. Telephone service was about the only consistently declining part of the CPI. In addition, the company was extremely stable and successful.

This is an example of a company that thrived for decades with a regulated rate of return. While defense contracts are an example of the dangers of cost plus - which lapfog1 spells out very clearly here - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=81847&mesg_id=82114 , AT&T is an example where the company and the regulator worked to insure good service, lower prices, while the company remained healthy. Now, the lower prices were mostly a function of technology making things cheaper, but that as not the only reason.








(Note AT&T pre-divestiture is NOTHING like AT&T now, SouthWestern Bell took over the restiages of the old AT&T in 2005 - the deal supposedly made at the 2005 celebration of Bush's victory. )

[fascisthunter]

20. liar... it's a huge giveaway to the Insurance Companies

god, republicans are really warped and hollow.