| ▲ | aspenmayer 4 days ago |
| The healthcare industry doesn't need a bailout, though, so the US has no leverage to demand 10% of healthcare companies' stocks. |
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| ▲ | vjvjvjvjghv 4 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| The healthcare industry is receiving perpetual bailouts through drug import restrictions, tax deductions, subsidies and favorable legislation. |
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| ▲ | TehCorwiz 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The healthcare industry as it is is dominated by parasitic middlemen sucking the money from both patient and provider. |
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| ▲ | kelnos 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > the US has no leverage to demand 10% of healthcare companies' stocks The US government doesn't need leverage. It just needs an act of Congress. Corporations are convenient fictions that exist at the pleasure of our legal system, which can be changed. |
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| ▲ | aspenmayer 4 days ago | parent [-] | | I agree that this could be done as it has happened before, but I don’t think anyone would go quietly. It’s expropriation without pay or eminent domain if it’s with pay, but I would expect a Supreme Court challenge if Congress came anywhere near this, either way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprises_of_the... | | |
| ▲ | hakfoo 3 days ago | parent [-] | | A nifty play would just be "the corporate veil is no longer free. Issue the state stock for a 49% stake, or your investors have unlimited liability." Then there's a theoretical "trade" but virtually nobody's going to say no. | | |
| ▲ | aspenmayer 3 days ago | parent [-] | | In such a scenario, the US gov is only ~2% away from a 51% attack hostile takeover against any/every public company, depending on the kind of shares. This is not likely. | | |
| ▲ | hakfoo a day ago | parent [-] | | That's the goal. Right now, public companies are far too governed by people who want the business to succeed at all costs. The state could represent interests like "keeping high-paid jobs on-shore" or "avoid legal/labour/environmental standard arbitrage" that regular investors won't vote for. | | |
| ▲ | bdangubic a day ago | parent [-] | | works for venezuela and all other commie countries so you know, why don’t we try to become that too :) |
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| ▲ | WillPostForFood 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| the US has no leverage to demand 10% of healthcare companies' stocks. US federal government is the biggest player in healthcare, by far. 32% of all healthcare spending is Federal government dollars. They have plenty of leverage. Bad if they use it, but they have it. $900+ billion in Medicare yearly
$600+ billion in Medicaid yearly |
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| ▲ | aspenmayer 4 days ago | parent [-] | | Why would the government taking a stake of the insurance companies be a benefit from the point of view of the federal government or the insurance companies? What would the value add for either party be? | | |
| ▲ | WillPostForFood 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | You said the government had no leverage, I am pointing out they have tremendous leverage. I said it would be bad to use the leverage, so I don't think there is a benefit. | | |
| ▲ | aspenmayer 2 days ago | parent [-] | | > You said the government had no leverage, I am pointing out they have tremendous leverage. That’s a fair point. I agree that my phrasing glosses over a bit of nuance. The political capital needed to reform the insurance companies would be hard to wrangle for anyone else but Trump, was my point. The government in many states regulates the insurance industry as far as rate increases and so on, so I’m sure they can apply pressure in many ways. I just don’t think that the government would do so, but they could in theory. I’m not sure they would in practice, but you were right to call me out. |
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| ▲ | Hikikomori 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Can recoup some of the completely unnecessary money poured into insurance companies that shouldn't exist. | | |
| ▲ | aspenmayer 4 days ago | parent [-] | | That money almost seems like ill-gotten gains at this point. To a certain reading, it’s blood money.[0] If the insurance rates are too high, I don’t see how another cook in the kitchen is going to cook the books better, but I’m willing to believe that it could be a shakeup that might work. I just don’t have high hopes. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine,_Affluence,_and_Moralit... | | |
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| ▲ | bdangubic 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| The “US” you are referring to no longer exists. It has been replaced by a combo of North Korea and Venezuela :) |
