Sen Lieberman's Donors Benefit From Obstruction

This weekend, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) announced that he will join a Republican filibuster of health care reform if it allows people in the 55-65 age group to purchase Medicare coverage as an alternative to private insurance.  The buy-in proposal, which Lieberman voiced support for as recently as three months ago, was widely considered the compromise that could push reform to the finish line. 

Lieberman has now invented a new excuse for his intransigence every month since June, and this latest act of duplicity has left many observers musing about what motivates him.  The hypotheses include spite for the left, "sociopathic indifference" to the consequences of his actions, and plain lack of intelligence.

But it's also worth noting once again that Lieberman has friends in the insurance industry who will benefit from his obstructionism. 

Indeed, as FireDogLake points out, "health insurance stocks are up dramatically today after Joe Lieberman's threat to filibuster health care reform." Via the Wall Street Journal (subscription only):

Wells Fargo Securities analyst Matthew Perry said Lieberman's comments are good news for managed-care stocks as anything that delays health-care reform is a positive for the group.

"Every time the reform seems less likely that it will happen, the entire group trades higher," said Perry, who has advised his clients to buy shares of Wellcare Health Plans Inc. (WCG), recently up 1.3% to $36.74, and Humana Inc. (HUM), up 1% to $42.26.

Among the other recent gainers in the sector, Aetna rose 2.7% to $32.65, Cigna Corp. (CI) added 2.3% to $36.41 and Well Point Inc. (WLP) gained 2.7% to $58.07. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) added 1.6% to $30.99.

Of the companies named in the WSJ story, four contributed to Lieberman's last senatorial campaign.  Each of them made Lieberman one of their top beneficiaries:

• Aetna donated $9,000 to Lieberman in the 2006 campaign cycle.
• Cigna donated $6,500 to Lieberman in the 2006 campaign cycle. 
• WellPoint donated $8,000 to Lieberman in the 2006 campaign cycle.
• UnitedHealth donated $5,000 to Lieberman in the 2006 campaign cycle. 

Fun fact: WellPoint also contributed $10,000 to Michael Steele's failed senate bid, making the current RNC chairman just one of two candidates (the other was Judd Gregg) to receive more than Lieberman.