Think it's a coincidence Election Day falls under the shadow of Halloween? Is it supposed to be some kind of "darkest before the dawn" allusion?
Either way, I thought I'd honor the occasion by using this week's post to drop a few tricks and treats of my own. Scary, I know.
I love Chris Christie. I still wish he had run this year. He's one of those rare politicians who speaks bluntly and honestly. Listening to him doesn't sound like rewritten, preprogrammed pap that's been through half a dozen focus groups. While I still hold out hope for him in 2016, my fear is he still won't want it. I see him (and others such as Rice and Rubio) as a way for the Republican Party to energize a new generation. I guess, at the heart of it, that's where I think Romney falls short. To me, he represents yesterday's party, the one that's conceded the youth vote to the Democrats. And that's not a winning strategy.
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You won't see this grabbing a lot of headlines, but Forbes online is running a nice little series breaking down the ripple effects of reform in a variety of the so-called battleground states – so much for affordable care.
In our own home state of Colorado, for example, individual premiums are expected to jump by nearly 20 percent by 2016. And it will probably gut Medicare Advantage for more than 225,000 Colorado seniors. Finally, according to the report, nearly 30 percent of Colorado doctors say they'll curb the number of new Medicare patients they'll take in. And these numbers, by the way, are coming from Jonathan Gruber, one of the president's own advisers. (And I doubt we're an outlier.)
Speaking of flying under the radar, something else to look for as this law continues to spread like some kind of virus, is an uptick in what's already been described as an active mergers market. According to the eggheads over at Accenture, the health reform law will drive further mergers and acquisitions as players look for additional revenue streams.
They always tell you to be careful what you wish for.
Once they got the "public option" tossed out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the carriers quickly got behind it and effectively broke up the industry coalition aligned against the landmark legislation. (By the way, does anybody even remember that? Hard to believe how much worse this law could have been…)
And on the heels of a AP report detailing overall carrier apprehension over Romney's potential election (probably a gross overgeneralization to begin with), I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head over some of the carrier earning reports crawling over the wires this week. This uncertainty hasn't been good for anyone…
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