language is excellent rhetoric for the Repubs, i wonder if it is in the "manager's" amendment? The bottom line is that tough mandate punishments are like ambrosia for the HMO's... I wonder if that is part of our recent upswing's derivation?
I think that this passing the house, shoved over futher and further to the right, as it has become, is not really a problem for UNH.
We have headline risk but I think that at this point it has been dialed about as close to the sweet spot as you could have hoped the house bill to be.
The senate version is sure to move right (right back into Olympia Snowe's lap)...
If we end up with a strong mandate, a trigger option and taxes and fees that can be passed through without impacting earnings....
I believe, (cynically, to be sure, because I would personally rather see tax free savings accounts and high deductable policies) that this is starting to become almost ideal. My only issue is that my options are losing their viability.
If the bill fails at any juncture, (house, senate or conference) I will wait for the inevitable pop and sell my options, cause any failure of the bill will simply initiate a new round of political uncertainty.
Steve