Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Humana Merger

Kind of ironic given that Aetna is largely responsible for the elimination of the public option from the Affordable Care Act.

Thanks again Joe Lieberman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aetna#Lobbying_and_campaign_co...

If you think a ~$100,000 a year to a politician (plus another couple million to some other politicians) is largely responsible for the rules that govern how 20% of our economy functions you are quite mistaken.

There are huge economic and political forces at work that render Aetna's tiny expenditure irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I'm no expert in this at all, but I do know a number of people who work in government and across the board they are all of the opinion that most people would be shocked if they knew just how cheap it was to buy major influence, even at the national level.

There are people that are experts and they generally agree that the effects of political contributions are much smaller than is generally believed by the public.