Marketwatch: Laughing at, not with, the Democrats

Aug 17, 2009, 12:03 p.m. EST

Laughing at, not with, the Democrats
Commentary: Health insurers must be cackling with glee in boardroomsView all MarketWatch First Take ›
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Somewhere in their respective wood-paneled corporate boardrooms, Angela Braly and Stephen Hemsley are breathing a sigh of relief -- or rubbing their hands in glee.

At the very least, the chief executives of WellPoint Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!wlp/quotes/nls/wlp (WLP 53.75, +1.56, +2.99%) and UnitedHealth Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!unh (UNH 29.06, +1.01, +3.60%) were rejoicing as their stock prices shot up nearly 4% in Monday trading. But don't be surprised if they're also doing that glee thing.

Why? The nation's two biggest health insurers and everyone else in the managed-care sector counted on the Democratic Party to do what it always does: cave in when the going gets tough. And just like clockwork, Democrats appear to be true to form.

President Obama now reportedly is saying that he's willing to compromise on a public health-care insurance option, and his Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, was quoted as saying that it wasn't "essential" to a health-care overhaul.
as White House seems to back off "public option." That makes them the only sector to buck big slump.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/laughing-at-not-with-the-democrats-2009-08-17

Reading their comment boards is like a Freeper convention.

... that's constructed to make it appear otherwise, and that policy decisions occur from pragmatic reasons, coupled with how our Reps are "listening to" the mainstream discourse. Bullshit. The whole thing's a ruse. The big $ behind the HC indestroy were NEVER going to agree to competition and reduced profits, and those are the true, governing interests of our Reps.