A modest (by his standards) proposal for Obamacare we can support‏

One of the biggest obstacles to Obama's preferred version of Health Care Reform is the push back from private, for profit entities. They correctly view Obamacare as a threat to their growth and profits. If they were not profit seeking entities focused on growing their businesses (an unfortunate necessity of shareholder owned entities), they could go along with the Presidents reform package. That's the rub; They are profit seeking and they have a duty to maximize the value of the company for the benefit of shareholders. To the extent that the profit motive stands between the healthcare products and services and patients in need, my modest proposal for the President is as follows. There are 173 Health Care companies in the S&P 1500 (500 Large Cap, 400 Mid Cap and 600 Small Cap companies). Of these 173 companies, 162 generate profits. In fact, the total profits of these 162 companies is $115.6 billion dollars. The market capitalization of these companies is $1.4 trillion. I would think that Mr. Obama could buy all of these companies if he offered a healthy premium of 20%. Now, spending $1.7 trillion is a lot of money, but I'm sure Uncle Ben could order some more paper and ink. Now, with the profit motive no longer serving as an obstacle to getting the health care products and services to those who need them, it would seem like the stars would be aligned for Progressive nirvana. Just think of the things the government could do with complete ownership of the Health Care complex. They could:

• Stop seeking approval of products that have no proven clinical benefits
• No more needless tests and procedures
• No uncompensated care
• Use comparative research to decide what products to sell and which to kill
• Cut compensation of the government officials running these entities
• You could immediately eliminate direct-to-consumer advertising
• You could eliminate your sales force, as you would be selling products to yourself
• You could lower, if not eliminate price increases for your products and services
• In fact, you could sell your products at cost!
• You could eliminate the cost and distractions of patent challenges, as you own everybody

The good news is, that with $115.6 billion in after tax profits (hey, maybe they wouldn't be taxed as government agencies), the yield on this $1.7 trillion "investment: would be 6.8%. With 30 year treasuries yielding around 4.5%, this would be self financing with money to spare. Imagine the possibilities when you take capitalism out of the equation.