Kimberly Strassel has an important piece in the Wall Street Journal today, which in addition to cataloguing big business deals with Democrats in recent months reminds us of the true history of Harry & Louise and HillaryCare, as opposed to the conventional fiction.
Strassel’s conclusion, I think, is half right and half wrong:
The question is just how long it is going to take for America’s health-care CEOs to realize they are being taken for a ride, both by Congress and their own lobbyists. Americans are wary enough about ObamaCare to maybe appreciate some straight talk from corporate America. If only corporate America can find the smarts to give it.
She’s right, I think, that in the long run, government growth in the industry will crush the pharma and HMO companies. She’s also right that part of what goes on here on K Street is the principle-agent problem: the interest of the lobbyists (making themselves more important) is not identical to the interest of the corporations.
I think she’s wrong that the CEOs will regret this. For the short and near-term, I think Democrats’ “reform” will spell profits for the companies. It’s only the fool who buys and holds his Aetna stock into the next administration who will see Washington run away with all the private sector’s business.
