The Wasted Hundreds-of-Billions

Editor@TheIndependentDaily.com

“I wish it could have worked out between us...”

It’s an awkward title but one that reflects the costs we have already absorbed for the travesty called Obamacare. Potentially into the Trillions-of-Dollars, nothing marks the division in this country greater. It was a train wreck to begin with: a landmark proposal that was not Socialized Medicine, but an attempt by Obama’s favored supporters to put more money into the pockets of the already bloated Health Care industry: Hospitals, Physicians, Pharmaceuticals, and beyond all others, the vastly overpaid CEOs in charge of America’s Health Care Insurance Industry, such as Stephen Hemsley of UnitedHealth Group, America’s Number One Health Insurance provider, who takes home $48 million per year (read excerpt below).

“We’re just at different places in our lives...”

It’s potential demise ought to be cheered, yet collectively we should also mourn the loss of money, time and energy spent developing, implementing, and arguing a program of such a controversial nature, and plainly of so little value.

It points to one fundamental issue that is at the core of the difficulties we repeatedly face: Washington DC is too involved in our lives.

“It’s not you...it’s me...”

Our Federal government has grown to outrageous proportions insinuating itself into every aspect of our day-to-day existence, wresting more and more control from our states, and sinking its rabid teeth ever-deeper into our flesh.

America is vast and vastly different. Within each state, as in Arizona here, there is division, too, but the overarching commonalities serve to smooth the waters bringing about a legislative end - a consensus - that is democratically representative. We are six million in Arizona: It works. It does not work on a national level where the number is 330,000,000.

“We need to talk...”

What does this mean? Logically, either our Federal government returns control to the states for a greater level of self-governance, or, perhaps as in the former Soviet Union, we consider liquidating our common bond. After all, it’s better for children to come from a broken rather than an unhappy home.

“This just isn’t working for me anymore...but I still want to be friends.”

Excerpt from, Obamacare, A Ravenous Wolf in Socialist Clothing:

Indisputably, at no time in history has a plan to so vastly enrich the few been more carefully crafted than the Affordable Care Act (ACA): A more clever and deceitful orchestration is unimaginable, and Obamacare, as it is sometimes called, will become the textbook example of how to gather up to 50 million additional consumers at the checkout line for a product that many of them do not want or need.

50 million at an average of $2,000 per consumer, or total annual revenue increase to America’s Health Care Insurance Providers of at least $100 Billion. That’s $100,000,000,000.00 in added sales every year to, among others:

Our Nation’s #1 Health Care Insurance Provider is UnitedHealth Group, Inc., headed by Stephen Hemsley: Annual compensation, not including stock ownership returns, more than $48 million in 2011. Hemsley also saw a 42.3% increase in the value of his personally-held company stock following the Supreme Court’s ruling permitting Obamacare to continue. In 2011, two of his underlings, George Milkan and Gail Boudreaux were compensated $14.8 million and $13.9 million, respectively. $80 million in compensation during 2011, alone, for just these three employees.

The Nations #2 Health Care Insurance Provider is WellPoint, whose name accurately describes CEO Angela Braly’s compensation that, during 2011, exceeded $13 million. She owns 476,503 shares of WellPoint, too. Today’s value, at about $82 per share, puts her investment in Obamacare at a net value of more than $39,000,000.00. Braly also holds a position on the board of Proctor & Gamble. Total 2011 compensation, $281,262.00. She owns 13,820 shares of P&G. Value? A little more than $1 million.

Kaiser Foundation Health’s George Halverson was compensated a total of $6.7 million in 2009, the last year for which data is available. Kaiser is America’s #3 insurance carrier.

Mark T. Bertolini – CEO of Aetna Group – the Nation’s #4 Health Care Insurance Provider, was compensated $8.8 million in 2010. He also owns $26 million in today’s value of Aetna stock.

#5 in the US: Humana Group’s Mark McCallister was compensated $3.3 million in 2010. He owns more than $20 million in stock.