On Mar 19, 2010, at 4:00 PM, Matthias Wasser wrote:
Then why do they oppose it now?
>
They do? I thought they'd been pretty quiet. They wrote the draft of the Senate bill, which is pretty much what they're voting on now. Wall Street seems happy with events: over the last year, Aetna stock is up 40%; United Health, almost 60%; Wellpoint, almost 80%; and Cigna, 100%. All but Aetna are outperforming the S&P, which is up just 50%.
Of course they're happy...but some firms will still out of historical ideological bent will oppose this bill strictly to make nice with some of their right-wing Republican clients.
Plus...the two-facedness of industry pretending to strike an ideological pose against something while secretly profiting off that very thing is a standard tradition. See Republican remarks about earmarks in the stimulus package, for an example.
(Just delurking out of my basement for a bit...lurking back now)
Anthony