Politico is mad at Democrats for working to repeal health insur. industry's antitrust exemption

[ProSense]

Dems launch attack on insurers

Carrie Budoff Brown, Patrick O'Connor

The long-simmering tension between insurers and congressional Democrats is erupting into open warfare, with lawmakers stepping up their push to revoke a key federal protection for the insurance industry.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday will call for an amendment to the health care reform bill that would remove the long-standing antitrust exemption for insurers, echoing a push by other Democrats to crack down on the industry.

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This push comes on the heels of a controversial industry-sponsored report released over the weekend that makes the case that insurance premiums will go up by as much as $4,000 per family by 2019 if the Senate Finance Committee legislation is signed into law. The release of that report by the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans sparked angry blowback from Democrats in both chambers.

At first glance, this assault on the antitrust exemption is more political than practical. But repealing the antitrust exemption would give the federal government more authority to oversee the business side of health insurance companies — something states now have the sole authority to monitor.

And the push by Reid and Schumer signals that Democrats are planning to intensify their efforts to paint insurance companies as the villains in the health reform fight, something that could prove useful as President Barack Obama and others try to rally a skeptical public around a sweeping health reform measaure.

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[grasswire]

1. time to humiliate ins execs and stock holders

They are profiteers of death, disease, and tragedy. It's time to make them ashamed to do what they do to American families.

People used to hate tax collectors (still do). Now it's time to hate those associated with insurance.

[Zoeisright]

2. Insurance companies ARE the villian in the health reform fight.

And they need to be broken.

[DrToast]

3. It's bullshit trying to tie this to the report

Leahy and Schumer have been pushing this for months.

[SPedigrees]

4. Politico is a puppet of the repub party IMO.

Their little weasel of a news correspondent, whose name escapes me (Aom or Oam something like that and I forget his last name,) was on BBC news the other night stating that the public option is dead, clearly hoping to make this thought a reality by saying it.

[Dinger]

5. Like I Said, Who Gives A SHIT what fucklitico Says? (nt)

[TomCADem]

6. Good!

After threatening to fix prices in the AHIP report, we should repeal the exemption.