Thursday, April 22, 2010
Nationalization of Health Care?
We've been told that Obama/Pelosi/Reid-care isn't really nationalization, which is true, as far as it goes. But, it's interesting that if the Senate had their way, the CBO would have to count the costs of the insurers as part of the government's costs. Instead of the final 80 to 85% "Medical Loss Ratio" (medical spending), 90% was suggested and that would implied nationalizing the costs, according to the CBO. So, it's not nationalized health care, but it's really, really close kind of like Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. Also, not surprisingly for health insurers to still make some money and hit the 80 to 85%, the insurers are re-categorizing expenses.