Reply #262: I agree. I am thinking more of the political calculations that may be

[lostnfound]

occurring behind the scenes but also wondering what mitigation could occur. I.e., truly national health care system theoretically would destroy the big insurance companies, wouldn't it? Which might be great, but I am thinking of Enron and the retirement accounts that zeroed out as a result -- even among people who never worked for Enron. There was a retiree highlighted in the movie "smartest guys in the room" who was a lineman for Pacific electric company -- blue collar guy -- whose entire account was wiped out because he always assumed that his own utility company was safe, and when it was bought by Enron he didn't make a move with his money, and then he ended up having to go to work again (at the age of 70?).

I don't know what the market cap is for the health insurance vampires..and I would be thrilled if they all go under..but wouldn't a buyout of some sort for the shareholders -- at least the first $100K or whatever of their holdings -- be just? Like nationalizing a resource industry is usually done via buyout of ownership.

Well, stocks are "wealth without work" as Gandhi would say, and the root problem is the ownership society (a phrase which always called to mind the slave ships for me). The loss of property is secondary to the loss of life occurring among the uninsured or other victims of insurance companies.