[Beetle01]

It would be interesting to see the numbers being broke down for Papa John's, and how much is just for political BS. Let' keep in mind this is a company with sales revenue alone exceeding 1 billion dollars.

According to their site they employ about 16,500 employees. So it's tough to tell without knowing how many are already insured, how many would even meet the requirements to be offered insurance currently.

Average cost per employee is around 10k, but a little lower for companies that employ that many individuals (for health care).

This is where it starts getting tricky and I will be interested to see what happens. Insurance companies profits have increased right along with the increase in health care costs. Now that hospitals will be able to stop charging the insured so much more (and it is very substantial), the cost to insurance companies should decrease. Will those savings be passed on? Under Obamacare they will have to be from my understanding as 85% of their revenue must be spent on providing health care.


This is one aspect where I tend to differ from many of my conservative counterparts. Like them, I believe in a free market, however, I no longer believe a free market exists in the health insurance field. It is regionally dived out to each of the biggest providers, and they have full control over their regions to offer coverage without interference or competition from other strong providers. As a group they have effectively squashed any up and comers who were a threat to their profit line, to ensure their futures, and since having accomplished that, the American people and companies have seen health care costs skyrocket, while insurance companies profits have matched that growth.

This is the one aspect of Obamacare I am on board with. If we are going to allow these companies to operate in the manner in which they do, then there has to be a form of profit limitation to protect the American people.

First and foremost, it is about what is best for the citizens of America, not what is best for the billion+ profit margins of corporations.

So don't spew some BS about free market at me, because you are either in denial or ignorant of how these insurance companies operate. There is no free market in this case.

This reminds me of the interesting graph I saw on the banks, and how the politicians have been to busy stuffing their coffers with donations to protect the American people, and now the banks are so large that they hold the entire economy in their hands.

[Image: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/image...kKSIUq0VNp]


Image doesn't show up well, here is the link for a better view. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010...er-history