Seems like the insurance industry doesn't want its giveaway...

[damonm]

Something here doesn't add up.

If the Senate HCR bill is in fact the "giveaway to the insurance industry" that many here on DU claim it to be (putting forth some fairly compelling arguments), why is the industry lobbying to kill it all over again?

From the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022703253.html?nav=hcmodule

The fresh round offers a clear signal that the industries and advocacy groups most likely to be affected view the coming weeks as the final battle in determining whether Democratic proposals become law.

Their efforts suggest a return to the frenzied pace of last year's health-care debate, which prompted more than $200 million in advocacy ads and broke records for lobbying. Companies and trade groups last year hired more than 4,500 lobbyists to influence health reform -- amounting to about eight lobbyists for each member of Congress, according to an analysis released last week by the Center for Public Integrity.

Reacting to President Obama's recent statements that he will move ahead with legislation, health insurance companies have enlisted hundreds of lobbyists in a full-court press against the proposed overhaul, which would force dramatic cuts and increased regulation on the industry. At the same time, insurers are pushing back against a separate bill approved by the House last week that would remove the industry's antitrust exemption.

Pharmaceutical lobbyists are also targeting Obama's plan, which includes administration proposals to secure an extra $10 billion in cuts from the industry and to ban deals between brand-name and generic drugmakers that keep cheaper medicines off the market.

[BlueIdaho]

1. Why have half a loaf when you can have the whole thing?

The cartel understands that no bill is better than any bill that forces them to take a comers. They see this as a win-win for the industry. Any additional costs incurred to defeat HCR will be paid by policy holders anyway so why not shoot for the moon? After all they are playing with other peoples money.

[subterranean]

2. Maybe they perceive that health insurance reform can be defeated again.

They only got on board with the Democrats' plan, which at least preserved their monopoly, because they thought some kind of reform was inevitable. But they really would prefer no change at all, and now they see that as a possibility. They think maybe they can buy 5 or 10 more years of the status quo (which means more profits for them).

[phleshdef]

3. I'm sure you will get some conspiratorial fantasies of Glen Beck-like proportions in response.

Some here in the past have been so obsessed with painting the bill as an insurance company giveaway that they have allowed themselves to believe that the insurance companies would spend 10s of millions of dollars to try to paint the "illusion" of being against the bill in order to keep suspicions down regarding how badly they actually want the bill to pass. I've had a few posters try to make that very argument. Of course those of us who dwell in reality, where FEMA prison camps and government sponsored death panels don't exist, aren't buying that BS. But I digress.

[damonm]

4. The silence is deafening...n/t

[uponit7771]

5. Excuse #1 - HCI's are playing rope a-dope, Excuse #2 - some insult, Excuse #3 - more insults

[brand404]

6. Greed.

The bill that the senate passed is more a giveaway than beneficial, however, what's better is the idea of a new bill (or amendments) that gives even MORE away by way of removing preconditions from it. So in a nutshell the industry is getting more greedy. If a health bill is to pass they want to get as much out of it as possible...when a gambler starts to win the hardest thing for him to do is quit while he's ahead.....it's the same game.

There's also the thought that if they go through reconc. that the democrats might dump some parts of it that benefit the industry in favor of things for the people. They certainly dont want anything that helps them dumped.

I think a better indicator of the effects the passage of the bill is to watch the stock market and see how investors on wallstreet see the industry. As it stands anything resembling the senate bill is a BIG WIN considering as how the industry's ROI is up 20% since the announcement.

[PHIMG]

7. They want the deal Wall Street got - no strings, no accountability

And by the way the Insurance Industry is not one monolithic block with a top-down command structure. There are free agents, CEOs who don't want the Democrats to get a "victory" even if said victory is a generous bailout in the form of 50 million new customers with very fews strings attached.

[brand404]

8. Bingo! And thank you for mentioning the "not one monolithic block"

[donco6]

9. They don't want any change - and they'll probably get it. n/t