This might make sense.
Just setting the table for the incremental Socialized Medicine takeover to come....
Eeyore news bureau here... count on the Donks to give us the worst of both worlds. Eliminate the antitrust exemption but make it impossible to compete, especially across state lines. Result, NO insurance and everyone clamors for public option.
I need a better explanation since I don’t trust O.
But will it pass the Senate?
However, in effect it could be a stepping stone toward increased competition in the private sector which is why so many Repubs voted for it.
It all depends on who maintains control of Congress in Nov.
I think this is a good thing too.
I wonder why the 19 voted against it.
Boehner voted no, Cantor yes.
Here’s the rest who voted no.
Steve Buyer (R-IN),
Todd Tiahrt (R-KS),
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI),
Paul Ryan (R-WI),
Tom Price (R-GA),
Ron Paul (R-TX),
Jerry Moran (R-KS),
John Linder (R-GA),
Doug Lamborn (R-CO),
Steve King (R-IA),
Lynn Jenkins (R-KS),
Jim Jordan (R-OH),
Scott Garrett (R-NJ),
Trent Franks (R-AZ),
Paul Broun (R-GA),
Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Todd Akin (R-MO).
This is OK and adds credibility to the GOP argument that we want health care reform but not the current bill.
Kill the Bill. Still.
Teddy Roosevelt wins again!
Thought this might be of interest.
The following quotes are from an insurance industry press release, http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=166258 so take it for what it’s worth, but it does sound like this vote was mainly for show and not substance.
...What Others Are Saying About McCarran-Ferguson:
Los Angeles Times: “Lawmakers are expected to pass a bill this week that would repeal the federal antitrust exemption that insurance companies have enjoyed since 1945 — a move that makes for little more than a good sound bite…Removing the exemption won’t do much to boost competition or spark a price war among insurers, however. (The Congressional Budget Office said that a similar proposal in the House’s comprehensive healthcare bill would have no significant effect on premiums because state regulators already require insurers to price their coverage competitively.)” (Los Angeles Times, Back to the drawing board, 02/08/2010)
Paul Ginsburg, Center for Studying Health System Change: “‘I don’t think this will have much effect. This is strictly political posturing.’…In fact, Ginsburg said, insurers already are prohibited from colluding to raise prices and from merging at will. They can, however, pool information about risks, and it can be argued that that helps them manage ways of controlling costs and even rates.” (McClatchy, Analysts: Stripping health insurers’ antitrust protection won’t affect consumers much, 02/07/2010)
Kaiser Health News: “…many antitrust experts say that ending the exemption — by repealing the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act — wouldn’t significantly increase competition or reduce premiums.” (Kaiser Health News, The Antitrust Exemption For Health Insurers: Meaningful Or Not?, 02/08/2010)
Scott Harrington: “It might sound good, but I can think of very few things in the bill that would be
less consequential for consumers of health insurance.” (Kaiser Health News, The Antitrust Exemption For Health Insurers: Meaningful Or Not?, 02/08/2010)
CQ: “…bill supporters have little evidence to support claims that the antitrust exemption leads to higher costs. In fact, their statements in support of the bill sometimes suggest the opposite.” (CQ, House Democrats Push Bill to Eliminate Insurance Antitrust Exemption, 02/05/2010)
Ezra Klein: “On the other hand, since it doesn’t matter much, and it’s good politics either way, Democrats may as well go after it. They just shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking they’ve actually done anything useful when they’ve finished.” (The Washington Post, Ezra Klein, A primer on the antitrust exemption for insurers, 02/08/2010)
Anti-Trust is just a political tool by which politicians go after the companies they don’t like. There is no such thing as a stable private monopoly. Only governments are able to create monopolies because only force can prevent competition.
Reintroducing more punitive regulation when the market needs deregulation.
Just another way of trying to destroy private insurance companies and force people to go to the government.
Idiots. In normal times I might support this. But not with the socialist troika in charge, and not in the midst of a financial meltdown.
* House votes to put health insurers under antitrust law
* Bill no longer includes medical malpractice insurers
Supporters portrayed the bill as a way to tamp down sharply rising health insurance costs, such as those from WellPoint Inc (WLP.N), which raised rates an average of 25 percent for some Anthem Blue Cross customers in California.
WellPoint Chief Executive Angela Braly, at a hearing on the issue on Wednesday, said the company was concerned that it would lose the ability to share data with other companies. “It’s not going to affect healthcare costs one way or another,” she said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2419234420100224
Dems Get Religion on Health Care Antitrust Exemption
Suddenly the Obama administration decided to come out against the antitrust exemption for the insurance industry. Like they only just noticed the problem.
The insurance antitrust exemption has been an outrage for over fifty years. The original bill formalizing the industry’s exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act, the McCarran-Ferguson Act, was dreamed up by two Hollywood villains. Nevada Senator Pat McCarran was the inspiration for the “Senator Pat Geary” character in Godfather Part II (”Senator… my final offer is this: nothing” — that guy), while Homer Ferguson was the inspiration for the Lloyd Bridges character in Tucker who whored himself out for the auto makers to get Tucker’s new car struck from the market. These two gigantic assholes teamed up to help the insurance industry avoid the albatross of competitive pricing.
McCarran-Ferguson was supposed to be temporary. Franklin Roosevelt clearly thought so when he signed it into law in 1944, saying that after “a moratorium period,” the antitrust laws “will be applicable in full force and effect to the business of insurance.” The law was supposed to expire in 1947. It didn’t.
http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/02/24/dems-get-religion-on-health-care-antitrust-exemption/
And next is the Justice department massive lawssuits against insurance companies. Bah Bye