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Republican lawmakers buy health insurance stocks as repeal effort moves forward

When you think Republicans can't be more evil than they already are.

Just as the House Republican bill to slash much of the Affordable Care Act moved forward, Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican and member of Speaker Paul Ryan's leadership team, added a health insurance company to his portfolio.

An account owned by Conaway's wife made two purchases of UnitedHealth stock, worth as much as $30,000, on March 24th, the day the legislation advanced in the House Rules Committee, according to disclosures. The exact value of Conaway's investment isn't clear, given that congressional ethics forms only show a range of amounts, and Conaway's office did not respond to a request for comment.

It was a savvy move. Health industry stocks, including insurance giants like UnitedHealth, have surged as Republicans move forward with their repeal effort, which rolls back broad taxes on health care firms while loosening consumer regulations which prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for medical treatment. UnitedHealth has gained nearly 7 percent in value since March 24.

He wasn't the only one. As the health care system overhaul advanced last month on the other side of Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma purchased between $50,000 to $100,000 in UnitedHealth stock. Inhofe, a staunch supporter for GOP efforts to rollback the Affordable Care Act, did not respond to a request for comment.

Deny me health care if old
 

Anion

Member
I honestly don't get it. The bill probably won't get repealed last time I checked unless some new news came out today?
 

Steel

Banned
Made 15% on JNJ in the last few months. Been steadily trickling up because both the status quo and what Republicans plan to do is good for the bottomline.

Not like healthcare is gonna get any cheaper anytime soon, either.

I honestly don't get it. The bill probably won't get repealed last time I checked unless some new news came out today?

Doesn't matter, Health companies will get their cake regardless.

The silver lining of all these people is that I invested in healthcare, too, awhile back... and yes it's doing quite well. I guess the value of dead people is a 17% rise in a portfolio for GOPers.

Yeah, started buying into a bunch of healthcare stocks a couple months after Trump got into office. Writing was on the wall, and it's been steady and profitable.
 

Steel

Banned
Are people going to come around to my idea for a Constitutional amendment now?

That would essentially make them no votes on regulations on insurance companies, so that wouldn't help. Rather, they shouldn't be allowed to buy or sell stocks until they leave office.
 
Fucking scum, fucking scummy country to allow this shit to happen.

You're getting cornholed by a bunch of middlemen health insurance hacks. Whose business accumen is essentially "Let's increase the price of X medicine by 50%!"

Fucking glorified middlemen, in the business of human suffering.

"People want options with their health care!" Says Republican shill.

What fucking options do people actually want, it's pretty fucking binary, if you're sick, you want to be healed. You don't really need a big buffet of fucking options for that one.
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
How is this kind of thing even legal? Not sure how insider trading works but doesn't that fall under it?



Insider trading is legal for congressman as far as i know. They are able to use secret info to profit in the stock market.

Not like he did that here, but still.
 
Scummy of them but if they are going to do this it might be worth monitoring their investments to mimic.

Are all of their financial investment while in office public?
 
Unethical as hell for lawmakers to be able to put themselves so obviously in situations where they have direct financial interests.
 

Zolo

Member
Because they're the ones making the rules ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

(I don't actually know who is responsible)

Nah. That's accurate. It's the reason a lot of shitty stuff specific to congressmen have incredibly lenient sentences.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Are you planning to do something shady?
They're saying they CAN'T do anything shady because there are rules and it's scrutinized.

The person they were replying to seemed to be advocating insider trading, and the person you're replying to is pointing out that most people can't do that, for very good reason.
 

Steel

Banned
They're saying they CAN'T do anything shady because there are rules and it's scrutinized.

The person they were replying to seemed to be advocating insider trading, and the person you're replying to is pointing out that most people can't do that, for very good reason.

... And the person you're replying to was making a joke.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Going to be interesting to see how this might pan out given that the Senate version is teetering on the brink of ruination.
 

Beartruck

Member
I wonder how many dems are doing this 'cause both sides are the same right?

I know you're joking, but the reason this rule still exists is because both sides actually do do it. It's unlikely that Dems are buying healthcare stock right now, but you better believe they've done similiar things in the past. Still an extra layer of disgusting for republicans to do this though, as people live and die on these decisions.
 
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