I think it's implying that it gives an incentive to make things more expensive, because then they can make more money. If that profit cap didn't exist, they could make more money in other ways, such as lowering costs but keeping prices the same (or lowering them less).

Exactly.

I firmly believe that was a poison pill put in the bill to try and eventually push insurance prices so high that Americans would acquiesce to single payer.

The alternatives are the bill’s authors were so stupid they didn’t see the negatives to that action, they thought it would play well to voters and the rest be damned, or the some big medical players got it put in - which would be risky, considering option A.

But yeah, with that in place they have no incentive to pay out less - they simply can’t have it raise higher than their competitors too quickly.

I feel like Republicans would have made a bill just to get rid of that one portion but the voters would hate it so much they can’t because people’s grasp on economics is too simple.