Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Senate Takes Aim at Insurance 'Monopoly'

This should have been done sooner, and first. It could be the single greatest cause of what is wrong with health care in America. Let's see whether the Congress has the you-know-what to do anything about it.

in reference to:

"Democrats declared war on the health insurance industry this morning, opening hearings on a bill that would strip its anti-trust exemption.

“It’s something that should have been done a long time ago,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid, who argued that insurance companies have gotten so large, “they dominate entire regions of the country.”

“They make more money than any business in America today,” he said. “What a sweet deal they have.”

The entire insurance industry got the exemption in 1945’s McCarran-Ferguson Act on the grounds that it was not engaged in interstate commerce, and, federal anti-trust probes would interfere with state rules.

Unlike other industries, insurance companies are allowed to discuss pricing, territories and other practices that would be considered collusion if not for the exemption."
- Mouth Of The Potomac - NY Daily News (view on Google Sidewiki)

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