ACA Gravy Train
In the annuals of history, there has naught been a bigger Gravy Train than the passing of the "Affordable Care Act" on March 23rd, 2010. It is a day that will live in infamy. Imbued with the power of nation-states by the Sun King Barrack Hussein Obama, health insurers were granted pass-through monopolies.
Consider the charts above of the four largest remaining publicly traded health insurance companies. Almost to the day of ACA passage there has been a meteoric rise in their respective share prices. How is this possible? Amazing care? Deft management? Sweeping reform? Oh no dear readers, these companies have the implicit power to charge whatever the market will bear...and if you can't afford it, the government will pay your premium, but if you can afford it and DO NOT pay, then you can go to jail (the government of course determines "affordability.") Got that?
So while Chicago burns this summer (both figuratively and literally), its most famous son, who vowed that "the South Side of Chicago is my Martha's Vineyard," is inking yet another lucrative media deal at his estate in...Martha's Vineyard.
The hypocrisy is as thick as our vast oil reserves that can't be pumped. In terms of corruption and maleficence perpetrated on the American people, the ACA ranks high. Consider the fallacy of mandating purchases, at any price, from private companies with geographic monopolies, of a product you may or may not use, but you are required to buy less face the loss of your freedom. Preposterous.
If there's one thing we've learned at ILAF though, crazy pays. Consider all the innovation in the tech space over the past decade. Or in EVs. Or in just about EVERY industry. The only thing healthcare seems to have innovated is consolidation, increased premiums, and higher share prices. Now that dear readers is true innovation!
