We’re taking baby steps in health care reform, but this is a major step in finally coming down on the out of control health insurance companies who have raked Americans clean financially for years now!
From the Washington Post:
The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to strip federal antitrust protections shielding health insurers from investigations into price fixing and other business practices, the first step in a legislative bid to clamp down on the much-maligned industry.
Although Democrats have led the repeal push in recent weeks, the committee’s 20-9 vote came with the support of three Republicans. The legislation would repeal portions of the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act that allows states to regulate health insurance providers without federal intervention. But critics of the law say that 64 years after its passage, the result has been regional monopolies that inflate premiums and discriminate against people based on their health status, gender and other factors.
I will never forget working for a health insurance company (they also did life insurance and short term disability) back in the late 1980’s when AIDS/HIV was around. The national company I worked for decided to go up on the price on the policies of those with AIDS/HIV, because they knew eventually the customer would not be able to afford to continue to insure themselves. And they were right! Spit. Awful, awful, awful manipulating people lives like this!
Spits of rage…