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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that health insurance stocks are up dramatically today after Joe Lieberman’s threat to filibuster health care reform. Lieberman has a new-found strong opposition to the Medicare buy-in proposal–a massive flip-flop from his earlier support.
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Matthew Perry said Lieberman’s comments are good news for managed-care stocks as anything that delays health-care reform is a positive for the group.
“Every time the reform seems less likely that it will happen, the entire group trades higher,” said Perry, who has advised his clients to buy shares of Wellcare Health Plans Inc. (WCG), recently up 1.3% to $36.74, and Humana Inc. (HUM), up 1% to $42.26.
Among the other recent gainers in the sector, Aetna rose 2.7% to $32.65, Cigna Corp. (CI) added 2.3% to $36.41 and Well Point Inc. (WLP) gained 2.7% to $58.07. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) added 1.6% to $30.99.
Joe Lieberman is the rain man for big health insurance companies. Every time he tries to bring down real reform with his nonsensical attacks on the public option or the Medicare buy-in, the stocks of health insurance corporations jump.
Senate Democrats need to understand their support for Joe Lieberman is support for the health insurance industries. Every time they give in to his ridiculous demands, they are giving in to the demands of the health insurance lobbyists. Joe Lieberman and his support of the health insurance companies will be a fifty ton weight that will drown the Democratic party. It is well past time to cut him loose before the party is ruined by its endless appeasement of a man who is fighting against the goals of the party.
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Wow, the stock junkies are even bigger amateurs than I thought. I guess they never heard of reconciliation. There’s probably a lot of money to be made off their stupidity.
You lose me when you say: “Senate Democrats need to understand their support for Joe Lieberman is support for the health insurance industries.” I can’t omagine why you, with your day to day understanding of the Senate, would suggest Dems DON’T understand the correlation.
Everytime “Traitor Joe” speaks for profits over people’s health needs Insurance Stocks soar
WORD
have been watching this link for a week now. Jon is correct, these are the biggest jumps in the shortest period of time since I started watching
.
The eruptions of naivete in this place with respect to Democrats are delightful to watch.
“By letting Rahm muscle the progressive caucus, Obama is weakening the chances for a robust public option!”
To which one can only reply: DUH!
Doh!@
Tried to edit my five and wiped it out.
I call bullshit on this. Not what you think. At all. A few big investors can influence individual stock prices by a couple percentage points. Part of the 11 dimensional chess to make us think the bill LIARMAN is whining about is actually worth a shit. You let that very bill get signed, and then you’ll see jumps of 10% or more in a day.
When “Traitor Joe” speaks the rich get richer.
“He’s at war with us on everything except keeping his committee chairs”.
The only way we can start some serious fuckoorou with those cynical geniuses, is to do the fucking inconceivable yet totally consistent and obvious;
Join with the t-baggers in decrying the corrupt actions of th(is)e Government! That, and perhaps only that would scare the crap out of them and compell them do the necessary 180.
Anyone here ready to defend this Administration on the 3 biguns; Afghanistan, Wall Street, or HCR?
Lieberman is playing the chump. Remember that Reid was being stuck with holding the bag whilst the White House lurked in the shadows, disavowing any ownership of the legislation that gets passed? So, now it’s Lieberman’s turn with the hot potato no one really wants to be held responsible for passing.
What evidence do you have that reconciliation is being viewed seriously as an option by either the Obama Administration or the Congress?
It seems quite to the opposite. If that were the case, there would be no reason for Emanuel and Obama to instruct Reid to satisfy Lieberman, and Nelson and Snowe etc etc.
It’s called “daytrading,” which to the best of my knowledge has not been made illegal or classified as an ethics violation when done by any member of Congress, the Cabinet, or by their staffers.
Think about it: these guys could all be dicking with us just to make a buck before they sign a damned thing.
Ask somebody reliable to enter a bill in both houses of Congress to make illegal daytrading in any stock or any mutual fund which bundles industry stocks by any member of Congress, the Executive Branch or their staffs and let’s see what happens.
[edit: Tempting to suggest we fund a pool which invests part of its monetary holdings in the insurance industry, and then takes profits/capital gains and uses them as donations to candidates who run against insurance industry whores.]
I’m thinking pump and dump everytime there is good news the stock goes up a little then the day traders get sucked in a few days later the stock goes down big fish make money.
On the other hand, Joe Lieberman truly understands his support for the healthcare industries is backed substantively by many other powerful Democrats in the Congress.
Right?
It is the sort of reciprocal understanding that makes the Democratic Congress and Wall Street in sync on so many other issues as well, isn’t it?
But for the record, re the 2010 election, here are the folks the insurance companies are betting on [in the Senate] so far:
1 Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) $188,100
2 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) $137,250
3 Grassley, Chuck (R-IA) $125,450
4 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) $112,550
5 Reid, Harry (D-NV) $106,500
6 Bennett, Robert F (R-UT) $96,900
7 Bayh, Evan (D-IN) $84,100
8 Burr, Richard (R-NC) $81,700
9 Gillibrand, Kirsten (D-NY) $79,600
10 Crapo, Mike (R-ID) $77,650
11 Shelby, Richard C (R-AL) $75,850
12 Murray, Patty (D-WA) $67,650
13 Thune, John (R-SD) $67,200
14 DeMint, James W (R-SC) $65,800
15 Nelson, Ben (D-NE) $63,000
16 Wyden, Ron (D-OR) $54,600
17 Ensign, John (R-NV) $48,526
18 Vitter, David (R-LA) $46,700
19 Isakson, Johnny (R-GA) $46,600
20 Dorgan, Byron L (D-ND) $45,500
Lieberman is not on the list because he is not up for reelection next year. Or maybe for Joe it’s about a lot more than the cash. He’s like the Balloon Dad of the Senate. Anything to get on evening news.
AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Sent Obama email. Donate money to FDL. pray.
what they really need to understand is that joe is a republican not a democrat
he votes dem when his vote doesn’t mean anything otherwise he votes repuke
if the bill passes with or witout his vote he’ll vote dem, if it fails with or without his vote he’ll vote dem, if his is the swing vote he votes repuke
My contempt for Joe knows no bounds…
O/T
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The fundamental problem here is the passive-voice framing that says that “health insurance needs reform” while bending over backwards not to make it sound as though anyone (i.e., the health-insurance industry) is actually responsible for that.
Once you get past that, it becomes a pretty simple matter – whatever the insurance industry favors, we shouldn’t do. The louder they scream about a proposal, the better it is.
Loathing for Lieberman.
Contempt for cut-a-deal White House.
Politics? Good-buy.
Obama will invoke National Security and classify offending sections to protect Bush.
Anyone wants to take out a bet?
Excellent!
May I speak plainly? (Awaits permission. There being none, she proceeds.) How did this little sh*t garner so much arguable power and how does he maintain it? Not for the first time, I muse aloud about whether there is a Republican in the Senate who might be ripe for the plucking by the left. Or is that way wishful thinking?!
maybe we’ll get lucky and 11 million of ‘em will be from Joe /s
Oh.. Faux’s not happy that “liberals” want to get Hadassah fired from her charity gig.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/14/blog-wants-celebs-help-oust-liebermans-wife-breast-cancer-cure-group/?test=latestnews
All I can say is that I watched Robert Reich say specifically just a few days ago that the bill as it currently stands is a huge gift to the insurance companies. When you deliver 30-40 million new customers to insurance companies without any serious restraint in what they can charge, the 3-6 million customers that the Medicare expansion would produce wouldn’t mean that much. In fact, the only restraint that seems to have been added to the bill is a restraint on how sick you are allowed to be, and how much your illness would be allowed to cost the insurance companies before they get to exercise the right to pull the plug on you. See, Grayson was right. Republicans, Liarman, and insurance companies have at least one thing in common: they want us to die. That’s why they rescind insurance if you forget to tell them about a bout with acne you had as a teen. OTOH, killing the bill might get some incumbents out of office, and one incumbent specifically, Obama. I’ve had it with all of them.
Maybe if our people and our politcians by election where somewhat logical they would work on reforming and lowering the actual costs of healthcare instead of pushing around money on who pays for what, when , why and how. This is a rediculous waste of time and money and everybody seems to think it is important but everybody continues to argue about shit that shouldn’t even come into play
Amen Ann in Az.
Amen.
I agree. The kid glove treatment accorded this faux-pious, hypocritical piece of what sticks to your shoe in the pigsty should be taken by the scruff of the neck for a short ride to the nearest DC ER and made to sit for 24 straight hours and look at the real human toll while he and his Republicronies play games with people’s lives.
And if that doesn’t do it for him, instead of talking to people like ineffectual Harry, let him talk to Dr. Nancy, or her guest today from UCLA Medical Center.
Pro-life? Values? Bull pucky.
also called my senator and Race for the Cure. To latter, asked about amt of $$ going to paid spokespeople- no answer yet. left msg. Am appaled that they pay ANYONE to be spokesperson-all that $$ should be going to research!
What in the world can that possibly mean to the insurance industry?
This point of view plays right into the assumptions the mainstream media want you swallow whole: That, to Wall Street a Democrat is not just another Republican is not just another Democrat when legiuslation involving billions of dollars is at stake.
Again, peruse this list of corporate contributions to members of the Senate re the 2010 election:
1 Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) $188,100
2 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) $137,250
3 Grassley, Chuck (R-IA) $125,450
4 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) $112,550
5 Reid, Harry (D-NV) $106,5006 Bennett, Robert F (R-UT) $96,900
7 Bayh, Evan (D-IN) $84,1008 Burr, Richard (R-NC) $81,700
9 Gillibrand, Kirsten (D-NY) $79,600
10 Crapo, Mike (R-ID) $77,650
11 Shelby, Richard C (R-AL) $75,850
12 Murray, Patty (D-WA) $67,650
13 Thune, John (R-SD) $67,200
14 DeMint, James W (R-SC) $65,800
15 Nelson, Ben (D-NE) $63,000
16 Wyden, Ron (D-OR) $54,600
17 Ensign, John (R-NV) $48,526
18 Vitter, David (R-LA) $46,700
19 Isakson, Johnny (R-GA) $46,600
20 Dorgan, Byron L (D-ND) $45,500
Do you see a Democrat vs. Republican pattern here. Nope. Why? Because corporate America simply does not make distinctions like that.
I would say that Jon probably meant to say, they need to understand that people are figuring out that they’re enabling the insurance companies.
the statement was directed at reid and the democrats, the insurance companies are THRILLED that democrats do not know lieberman is a republican
Thanks Jon for continuing to push this important part of the narrative.
“Senate Democrats need to understand their support for Joe Lieberman is support for the health insurance industries. Every time they give in to his ridiculous demands, they are giving in to the demands of the health insurance lobbyists.”
And you think Senate Democrats don’t support the health insurance industries? That they aren’t giving into the demands of the health insurance lobbyists? Aren’t we even past that delusion yet?
This was a pretty standard increase across the board in many different industries if you follow Wall Street. To hand pick 1 industry that you dislike then make up an excuse or point blame to one senator is both biased and irresponsible. About who the insurance companies are backing, if you go by dollar amount in the above mentioned lists, why do insurance companies spend (pass under the table) more for democrat support?
Firedoglake needs to understand that passing THIS type of reform is detrimental to the breast cancer cause because it will limit the number of times a woman can be checked and also raise the age of when a woman would be able to start being tested. This adminis+ra+ion through its czar has already tried this tactic and it fai|ed. Limited testing will be included in this fiasco of an attempt at reform. Sen. and Mrs Leiberman are doing more good for breast cancer awareness and firdoglake should just S T F U. (New |ibera| senator lingo speak)
How long before the likes of Lieberman, Nelson, Baucas, Reid, Lincoln, Landrieu et al begin hiring Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves these days) as private security guards. The wrath of the the people can be held in check for only so long.
that is such a great image. Can you imagine the Daily show or SNL using Lieberman’s face on that balloon that floated across Colorado.
with the insurance industry ducking in and out of the picture having released that Lieberman balloon.
The balloon Senator oh yeah great image
the balloon with Lieberman’s face on it keeps popping up in every Health Care senate Meeting on every news show etc etc. Someone pricking the Lieberman insurance balloon and it hits the ground..we can pray
The big picture’s a little more complicated than you imagine. Here’s the brand new evidence (courtesy of Podesta) that reconciliation is now the most likely course.
Please tell me more. I will try to struggle through.
Looks to me like you may have had the information before the press release came out.
As someone suggested should be sending Lieberman’s office some teabags filled with $$$$$
Well, maybe you see an enormous gap between how Wall Street sees Reid, Lieberman and the Republicans, but I don’t.
Yes, but the anger boiling over on Main Stream toward Washington is being organized [then molded and manipulated] by BeckWorld and the right, not the left.
That must change. Or nothing else likely will.
BREAK UP THE HEALTH BILL!!!
Put all of the reforms minus the public option and the Medicare buy-in into one bill and then pass it with 60 votes. Then do another health bill with the PUBLIC OPTION and pass it using reconciliation!!!
The Lieberman insurance industry fix was in from the beginning.
If you want real health care reform, you’ll need to move to Canada because there is no Tommy Douglas in America.
In his own words — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf1YAznsnVA
Will someone tell Me how when someone like lieberman actually fronts for the insurance industry, takes their money for it, that it is not a QUID PRO QUO.
We have no law in this Country.
If we can lose any crap that’s been put in there to find a 60-vote compromise it would help to improve the bill. When you aren’t looking for 60 votes you certainly don’t need to load down the bill with garbage. Reconciliation and 50 votes will ensure we get cost controls the so-called Blue Dogs have been yelling for.
Than you for pointing this out. I’ve noticed it too and the MSM hasn’t even touched on it from what I’ve seen. Happens almost very time Lieberman opens his mouth.