Support Anti-Trust Regulations for the Insurance Industry (change.org)

[pinto]

http://healthcare.change.org/actions/view/end_monopoly_protections_for_the_health_insurance_industry

Support Anti-Trust Regulations for the Insurance Industry

by Josie Raymond
February 04, 2010

Representatives Tom Perriello (D-Va.) and Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) will bring a bill to the House floor next week that would strip insurance companies of the anti-trust exemption they use to consolidate business and drive up prices. This stand-alone bill addresses an aspect of the stalled health care bill with bipartisan support. Case in point: Perriello voted for the health care bill last November while Markey voted against it.

Since 1945, the health insurance industry has been exempt from U.S. anti-trust laws designed to fight the unfair power of monopolies to control markets. The only other exemption is for Major League Baseball. Under this protection, the health insurance monopolies have been legally allowed to do what other industries can't: fix prices, collude behind closed doors and set their own markets without any fear of regulation. This bill will demand open and honest competition and a fair shake for consumers.

Perriello and Markey, both freshmen with tough reelection battles looming, wrote in a joint press release announcing the bill, "In the last 14 years, there have been 400 mergers among health care insurers so that 95 percent of health insurance markets are 'highly concentrated,' which means consumers have little or no choice between insurers. This non-competitive market has played a role in health insurance premiums having more than doubled in the past decade."

The Perriello-Markey bill aims to stop skyrocketing prices. You can help by signing the petition in support of trust-busting the insurance industry.

http://healthcare.change.org/actions/view/end_monopoly_protections_for_the_health_insurance_industry

© 2010, Change.org. All Rights Reserved

[TexasObserver]

1. Recommend

[thunder rising]

2. Here's your list of the "usual suspects" desperately trying to think of a frame to justify NO

http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/Member%20Page.html

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Jim Matheson (UT-02), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip


Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Markey, Betsy (CO-04)
Marshall, Jim (GA-08)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Murphy, Scott (NY-20)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Schrader, Kurt (OR-05)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

[pleah]

3. K&R