A Goldman Sachs analysis of health care legislation has concluded that, as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing to do is nothing. A close second would be passing a watered-down version of the Senate Finance Committee's bill.

A study put together by Goldman in mid-October looks at the estimated stock performance of the private insurance industry under four variations of reform legislation. The study focused on the five biggest insurers whose shares are traded on Wall Street: Aetna, UnitedHealth, WellPoint, CIGNA and Humana.

The Senate Finance Committee bill, which Goldman's analysts conclude is the version most likely to survive the legislative process, is described as the "base" scenario. Under that legislation (which did not include a public plan) the earnings per share for the top five insurers would grow an estimated five percent from 2010 through 2019. And yet, the "variance with current valuation" -- essentially, what the value of the stock is on the market -- is projected to drop four percent.

Things are much worse, Goldman estimates, for legislation that resembles what was considered and (to a certain extent) passed by the House of Representatives. This is, the firm deems, the "bear case" scenario -- in which earnings per share for the top five insurers would decline an estimated one percent from 2010 through 2019 and the variance with current valuation is projected to be negative 36 percent.

What the firm sees as the best path forward for the private insurance industry's bottom line is, to be blunt, inaction.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/1...98.html


Meanwhile, in a totally unrelated story:

CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reports that "Rival banks are eagerly awaiting this week's earnings announcement from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) not only for the third-quarter results but for how the firm deals with up to $20 billion in bonuses just a year after it received federal bailout money during the height of the financial crisis."

With third quarter earnings expected to ring in at more than $2 billion, Goldman is prepared to pay out some hefty bonuses. The problem? Given that Goldman Sachs received a taxpayer bailout only a year ago, paying out massive cash bonuses now could lead to a significant public relations backlash.

www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/1...htmare/


So, in sum, they take billions in taxpayer money, use it to pay themselves fat bonuses, and then advise their clients to deny health insurance to needy people . . . no ethical problems here, move along, move along . . .