Insurance Stocks Rise After Obama Speech

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Insurance Stocks Rise After Obama Speech

Posted on Sep 10, 2009
President Obama
White House / Pete Souza

Remember President Obama’s reference during his health care address to “Wall Street’s relentless profit expectations”? Well, those expectations were apparently met by that same address. Insurance company stocks got a boost from the speech, which foreshadowed the death of the public option and promised to deliver millions of currently “irresponsible” customers.

Speaking of the uninsured, at last count there were more than 46.3 million. —PS

Reuters:

Shares of U.S. health insurers climbed on Thursday after analysts saw no “game changers” from President Barack Obama’s highly anticipated speech on health reform.

Following the speech, analysts predicted any changes to the system would be moderate, with Obama backing many initiatives put forth earlier this week by a leading Senate committee. The possibility a threatening public health plan would be enacted also now seemed doubtful, analysts said.

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20090910_insurance_stocks_rise_after_obama_speech/

Wall Street sees few surprises in Obama speech
Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:04pm EDT

By Lewis Krauskopf and Susan Heavey

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. health insurers climbed on Thursday after analysts saw no "game changers" from President Barack Obama's highly anticipated speech on health reform.

Following the speech, analysts predicted any changes to the system would be moderate, with Obama backing many initiatives put forth earlier this week by a leading Senate committee. The possibility a threatening public health plan would be enacted also now seemed doubtful, analysts said.

"There wasn't anything said that is drastically changing the outlook as to what might come out of Congress," said Steve Shubitz, an analyst with Edward Jones.

...

http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE58941P20090910

[RoccoR5955]

1. What do you expect. Obama wants to give them more Corporate Welfare n/t

[joeycola]

3. Bingo

[joeybee12]

2. All Obama was trying to do was get control of the issue, in that he

succeeded...so, politically it was a win for him, but as for actual reform, it's clear there will be none.

[TheWatcher]

4. I am not interested in "Political Wins" for "The Footbal Team."

I am interested in Representative Government.

We elected these people to SERVE our Interests.

Not OWN Us.

Not RULE Us.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

6. So if that's a win

for him at the expense of the people does that make him narcissistic?

And what do you mean by "get control of the issue?"

[Nicephorus]

12. He works for the insurance companies

In a previous post, I pointed out that Obama's healthcare plan does not go into effect until 2013, and the insurance companies have a 5 year "grace period" to comply with the new regulations preventing them from dropping people, refusing to insure those with pre-existing conditions, imposing lifetime maximums, etc.

This means that you won't even have access to an "insurance exchange" (which is a bunch of b.s.) until 4-5 years from now, and insurance companies can continue jacking people around until 2018.

Health care reform is dead--it will be Obama that puts the HMOs and PPOs in power for eternity. No one is going to get care under his plan and he knows it.

Pelosi is abandoning the public option as we speak--United Health Care is holding a fund raiser at her house on 9-29.

The only thing we will be seeing is higher taxes.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

14. Do you have a link

to that post of yours? I'd be interested in reading it.

[d_b]

5. ****scorrrreeee*****

:woohoo:

[imdjh]

7. So insurance companies don't own bank stocks?

I was listening to Up Against Wall Street today and he was saying that B of A and Citi are houses of cards- doing exactly what ENRON did prior to collapse.

He said that these banks "paying back" their loans to the government out of "profits" is bullshit- there is no profit. The banks have simply moved all their dead wood off their balance sheet and onto the federal reserve.

Didn't Arianna say that Citi is worthless?

[slipslidingaway]

8. Look what the biotech stocks did back in July when the committees

approved the "data exclusivity" amendment.

http://stockcharts.com/

Type $BTK in the sharpchart box at top.


http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/july/senate_help_amendmen.php

"...Sen. Orin Hatch: I don’t know a biotech company that isn’t for this bill, for this 12 year data exclusivity.

...Sen. Tom Harkin: Keep in mind what we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about patents. Everybody gets a 20 year patent… What we’re talking about here is data, data exclusivity… How do you get that data? You get it through FDA supervised trials… Where do they do those clinical trials? Academic health centers. Who supports academic health centers? Our taxpayers… When should that data be released so that another company out there, some other entrepreneurs, can look at the data and say… I’ll bet if we changed this and did this, we might come up with a new formulation that might actually help something else. They’re still going to have to go through their clinical trials… At least they’ll be able to look at the data. If you don’t do that that means that the company can sit on that data for 12 years. Then they let the data out. Clinical trials will take another 7 years or more, so you’re going to have at least a whole 20 year run in there… before anyone can ever surface with anything even comparable to what that drug or that biologic is.

****

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Let’s find out why year after year the drug companies make hugh profits, look at why the drug companies have never once, to the best of my knowledge, have never lost a political debate here in Congress… (medicine) doesn’t do anybody any good if they can’t afford it. I think for year after year we’ve been paying a lot of attention to our friends in PhRMA, who are spending, I don’t know what they spend in lobbying and campaign contributions, a whole lot of money. Maybe it’s time that we start worrying about the people who have to pay for this medicine.

****

Sen. Sherrod Brown: You know what we’ve not talked about, Mr. Chairman? We’re not talking about how much these biologics are costing patients. Let me give you some numbers. (examples)… 48 thousand dollars… 20 thousand dollars …100 thousand dollars. You know what the average wage in my state is? 46 thousand dollars… If we do this giveaway to the drug industry, this giveaway to the biologic companies, it means profits are up for them, it means executive salaries are up for them, it means we can all feel good, but let’s think about the patients, let’s think of the patient with breast cancer who has got to spend 1000 dollars a week… the patient with colon cancer who’s got to spend 2000 dollars a week… What kind of progress is that, Mr. Chairman?.."

[Orwellian_Ghost]

11. From the comments

Last evening’s session devoted to the data exclusivity amendment was the longest amount of time they spent on any issue in the reform legislation. I stopped my other work to watch it. This morning, I’m not only jaded, but I’m also depressed. I’ll tell you why.

Earlier in the day yesterday, I sent out the following quote from Bill Moyers: “Nothing will change — nothing — until the money lenders are tossed out of the temple, the ATM’s are wrested from the marble halls, and we tear down the sign they’ve placed on government — the one that reads, ‘For Sale.’”

I didn’t sleep last night. Instead of counting sheep, I kept watching, in my nightmare, each of those Senators who voted yes picking up their bundle from the ATM machine in the marble halls on their way out as they passed the “For Sale” sign at the door.

But this isn’t about my nightmare. It’s about the 307 million of us who are the merchandise in Congress’s rummage sale.

[slipslidingaway]

15. Honestly I do not know much about the subject, but if it is good for investors

will it be good for the people??? Obviously we need to strike a balance between investors and holding down future costs for consumers, knowing the right time period is not as clear.

:shrug:

http://biotech-now.org/victory-on-biosimilars-in-senate-help-committee-but-still-a-long-way-from-the-finish-line-071145.html

"...BIO staff, the staff of our companies’ Washington offices, our consultants, our CEO’s and our affiliates went into overdrive to regain support for the original 12-year deal. In discussion with Senate staff, in conversations with Senators and in advertisements we communicated the straightforward truth that without sufficient data exclusivity investment in biologics, R&D would dry up and the promise of new hope for patients would vanish..."

Just adding these links for future reference

http://www.chi.org/basicpage.aspx?id=6026
http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/blog-post/12-years-of-data-exclusivity-for-biologics
http://www.aishealth.com/Bnow/hbd082009.html

[burrowowl]

9. This worries me

Health Care Bill signed by Obama to benefit them?

[JVS]

10. This level of corporate welfare is disgusting and inexcusable

[QC]

13. Actually, this is just part of a fiendishly clever double-reverse-jujitsu strategy

through which the president will destroy the insurance companies by giving them tens of millions of new captive customers and trillions of dollars in premiums.

Then, when they have been lulled into complacency, when they least expect it, he will strike and we will get single payer.

Have some faith, people.

[TBF]

16. K&R nt