Big Insurance Companies Rooting For ObamaCare

For all of the demonizing rhetoric they have had do endure from Democrats, the biggest winners in ObamaCare were the insurance companies.

So, then, with the promotion of this image of a benevolent, protective government versus the mean, greedy health insurance companies, it is interesting that some in the media are now discovering that many health insurance companies are in full support of ObamaCare.

Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner has done an excellent job of fleshing out the true relationship between ObamaCare and health insurance companies. He writes:

Would you be surprised to hear corn farmers supporting ethanol subsidies? What if the federal government ordered the states to start subsidizing gym memberships – would you find it a “curious twist” that gyms were pushing the states to set up these subsidy programs faster?

Why are journalists so constantly surprised when the companies that stand to profit from provisions of Obama’s health-care law support the implementation of those provisions?

In a nutshell, ObamaCare is set up to subsidize health insurance companies as well as hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. And while health insurers have battled the Obama administration on a few particular details of the program, like Medical Loss Ratios, which place a ceiling on the amount of profits health insurers can make, in general health insurers were eager for both the individual mandate and employer mandates to cover employees, features that would allow them more control of all corners of the insurance market. In addition, the state health insurance exchanges would provide health insurers with government subsidies for implementation of ObamaCare.

So, aside from a few pesky details, what’s not to love about ObamaCare if you’re a health insurance company? With it, there is the promise of a long life on the government dole, with little chance of going out of business. No wonder, then, that the top health insurance lobbying group is hoping the law is not overturned.