ObamaCare as Corporatists United: A Huge Bailout for Another Failing Industry

Clark Newhall | PNHP | June 29, 2012

With this bizarre twisting of words, the Supreme Court has revealed the nature of 21st-century American political thought. Those who make, interpret and enforce the laws no longer lie on the "left-right" political continuum. Instead, they are in effect at right angles to that continuum.

The ideology that drives the Supreme Court, the political administration and the Congress is not Conservative or Liberal but can best be described as Corporatist. This is the ideology that affirms that “corporations are citizens, my friends.”  It is the ideology that drove the Roberts court to the odious Citizens United decision. It is the ideology behind a bailout for banks that are "too big to fail." And it is the ideology that allows Congress to pass a law like the ACA that is essentially written by a favored industry.

The Corporatist ideology allows the Supreme Court to uphold the ACA despite the obvious and glaring consequence: forcing someone to buy health insurance is like forcing someone to buy a used Rambler — it’s a shoddy product at an inflated price, but you must pay a tax or swallow your anger and buy it from the smirking dealer down the street.

Why does Corporatism favor Obamacare?  Because Obamacare is nothing more than a huge bailout for another failing industry — the health insurance industry. No health insurer could continue to raise premiums at the rate of two to three times inflation, as they have done for at least a decade. No health insurer could continue to pay $200 million-plus bonuses to top executives, as they have done repeatedly. No health insurer could continue to restrict Americans’ access to decent health care, in effect creating slow and silent "death panels." No health insurer could do those things and survive...