Staff Reports
The Biden administration is all up in arms about the health insurance industry getting all cozy with each other. They’ve got their undies in a twist and are waving their antitrust stick at UnitedHealthcare, like a grumpy old man at kids on his lawn! The Wall Street Journal spilled the tea that the investigators are poking around at UnitedHealthcare’s relationships with its Optum health-services arm, which owns doctor groups and other goodies. But let’s not forget who lit the fire under this whole consolidation mess – it’s the big bad Obamacare.
Oh yeah, the Affordable Care Act is like the ringleader of this whole circus. The folks who wrote the bill basically said, “Hey, let’s all hold hands and merge into one big, happy healthcare family!” And that’s exactly what’s been happening. Everyone from doctors to insurers to pharmaceutical companies got the green light to start merging like it’s a high school dance.
Can Biden’s Justice Department solve the problems Obamacare caused? https://t.co/29XtZLFuhv via @dcexaminer
— Fearless45 (@Fearless45Trump) March 4, 2024
Last year, Cigna was practically ready to get hitched with Humana, and back in 2016, the Department of Justice had to step in and stop Anthem and Cigna, and Humana and Aetna from eloping. It’s like a soap opera out here, folks!
Reuters even came out last year saying that all this merger madness was ignited by Obamacare. CVS went on a shopping spree, buying up insurers and providers left and right, and UnitedHealthcare did the same. The American Medical Association even did a study on it and confirmed that the insurance market is more consolidated than your grandma’s Tupperware collection.
But hold onto your hats, folks, ’cause here’s where it gets real shady. Obamacare’s got these regulations that are practically pushing the big insurance companies to buy up doctor’s offices. They’re basically required to spend a certain amount of cash on paying the providers, so when they’re cutting it close, they just give bonuses to the doctors’ practices they own. Talk about a rigged game.
And let’s not forget the cherry on top of this hot mess sundae – it all boils down to Big Government making sweet, sweet love to Big Business. The more regulations, the more overhead, and when you throw in some government-industry cuddle time, it’s like a free pass for the big shots to call the shots. They’re the ones holding all the cards, and us regular folks are left with fewer choices than a kid in a candy store with only one sad lollipop left.
So, there you have it, folks. The Biden administration can point fingers and huff and puff all they want, but at the end of the day, it’s Obamacare that’s got the health insurance industry saying “I do” to all these mergers and leaving the rest of us with slim pickings.
