Cable TV hosts are talking nonstop about the Supreme Courts decision on President Barack Obamas health care law. Politicians are waiting anxiously for it. And the health industry is plotting to win the aftermath. <\/p>\n
In corporate suites, K Street conference rooms, and Wall Street investment shops, industry players havent all been content to wait and see what the court does. <\/p>\n
This is every man for himself, said a K Street Republican who has health care clients. Its a zero-sum game. They all want to make sure they are on the winning side. <\/p>\n
But theyre also eager to find out what the future of their world looks like because so much of their world now depends on whether the health care law will survive, be shredded, or be wiped out. <\/p>\n
(Also on POLITICO: Full health care coverage) <\/p>\n
The war-gaming over the law the Affordable Care Act has been particularly intense for insurers and retailers, who are preparing for a doomsday scenario in which the laws individual mandate is struck down but other provisions are left intact. If insurers are required to cover folks with pre-existing conditions, but young and healthy consumers arent required to buy health plans, premiums will skyrocket. <\/p>\n
It would be a worse mess than we already have with the health care law, Neil Trautwein, vice president of the National Retail Federation, said. <\/p>\n
Major hospitals and health care systems have been developing their playbooks, too. <\/p>\n
Obviously everyone is waiting with bated breath about whats going to happen. Theres lot of talk and gaming out under different scenarios, said Harold Ickes, a lobbyist who served as deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. What we do for our clients is lay out different scenarios. <\/p>\n
But Ickes and Delos Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, said that health providers already have been moving toward giving care in the ways prescribed by the health care law, and that will continue even if the law is fully or partially struck down. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read this article:<\/p>\n
Ruling is 'zero-sum' game for health industry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cable TV hosts are talking nonstop about the Supreme Courts decision on President Barack Obamas health care law. Continue reading