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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Elizabeth Warren's 'epiphany' on Obamacare's unintended consequences is overdue: WSJ

2023-11-28

The senatrix doth protest too much. She knew and did not care.

[FoxNews] Warren has opposed ObamaCare repeal efforts and advocated for 'Medicare for All'.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., "is at long last acknowledging that ObamaCare has increased healthcare prices" and created other unintentional consequences, the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote Friday.

Warren, who has long supported the Affordable Care Act, the official name for ObamaCare, has recently come to an "epiphany" about "industry consolidation and price increases caused by the healthcare law," per The Journal.

A letter to the Health and Human Services Department inspector general was aimed at determining if "vertically-integrated health care companies are hiking prescription drug costs" and are "evading federal regulations."

In a bipartisan letter, she and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., complained "that the nation’s largest health insurers are dodging ObamaCare’s medical loss ratio (MLR)," according to The Journal.

As Warren describes in the letter, health insurers have exploited the situation, making for "sky-high prescription drug costs and excessive corporate profits."

"In functioning markets, generic drugs cost 80 to 85 percent less than their name-brand equivalents, giving patients much-needed relief from high drug costs and saving taxpayer dollars," Warren wrote. "But patients – including patients in public health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid – who either use or are compelled to use vertically integrated specialty pharmacies are not seeing this relief."

The senators continued: "By owning every link in the chain, a conglomerate like UnitedHealth Group – which includes an insurer, a PBM, a pharmacy, and physician practices – can send inflated medical payments to its pharmacy. Then, by realizing those payments on the pharmacy side – the side that charges for care – rather than the insurance side, the insurance line of business appears to be in compliance with MLR requirements, while keeping more money for itself."

Posted by:Skidmark

#2 Faucahauntus is now on the warpath against the sale of Subway (sandwich maker) to Roarke Capital (which owns Dunkin, Arby's and Baskin Robbins among other brands).

Posted by: lord garth 2023-11-28 08:59

#1 She now understands more government regulation was needed.

Posted by: Bobby 2023-11-28 07:31

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