Wall Street’s destructive plundering of Main Street continues apace, with a recent iteration in the form of fantastically higher health insurance premiums for small business. The average 15% increase in 2010 premiums is approximately twice that of the previous year’s increase.
According to the New York Times (Small Business Faces Sharp Rise in Costs of Health Care ):
[While to some extent attributable to higher medical costs] some experts say they think the insurance industry, under pressure from Wall Street, is raising premiums to get ahead of any legislative changes that might reduce their profits.... In recent years, insurers were often not quick enough to raise their premiums well above the rising cost of medical care. But they have heard from angry investors who [are] disappointed by companies’ earnings.
Small business owners and other members of our dwindling middle class may well be asking themselves if our government will step up and adequately defend us from Wall Street's rapine, paper-swapping parasites.
Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst for Pali Capital who follows the companies: "While the industry is particularly vulnerable now in Washington", she said, "it seems like they’re more afraid of Wall Street."
And this, of course, is what must be changed. Health insurance companies are banks by another name and as yet, neither has been brought adequately to heel. Further!