FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
February 22, 2010 Paul Kincaid, 202-225-4289Cummings Votes To Strip Health Insurance Anti-Trust Exemption
Congressman supports treating health insurance organizations like most other American companies.
(Washington, DC) – Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07) today voted to pass H.R. 4626, the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act. Once signed by the President, the legislation will take away the anti-trust exemption for health insurance companies, requiring them to compete fairly and adhere to the same anti-trust laws as other companies. The bill passed the House by a tally of 406-19.
It will also give the American people more choice in their health care by requiring health insurance companies to compete fairly and adhere to the same anti-trust laws as other companies.
“Insurance companies have been able to avoid legal accountability for price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves, and sabotaging their competitors in the marketplace in order to gain a monopoly for decades,” said Cummings. “Marylanders have paid higher premiums, had a lower quality of coverage and have been limited in their insurance choices.
“In Maryland, two companies have 63 percent of the insurance business. 96 percent of all health insurance markets are, like ours, “highly concentrated”. Consumers have little or no choice between insurers and it is too easy for insurance companies to collude on prices and practices. Now, anti-trust enforcement will finally be possible, to protect Americans from collusion in the industry and to create more choices.”
Stripping the anti-trust exemption from insurance companies was also part of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives last year.
Organizing for America will be holding a health reform event tonight (Wed., 12/15) on the Eastern Shore. Here are the details –
TUESDAY in Wye Mills: Organizing for America to Hold Roundtable on Health Insurance Reform
As the health care debate continues in Washington, Marylanders will be gathering locally to ensure their voices are heard in this important debate. Organizing for America (OFA), a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) dedicated to supporting the president’s agenda for change, will hold a roundtable on Tuesday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. at Chesapeake College where Dr. Zaneb Beams will discuss the need for health insurance reform this year.
Our health insurance system is broken — tens of millions of Americans don’t have insurance and 14,000 more lose their coverage every single day. But now, after months of debate, we are closer than ever to passing comprehensive health insurance reform. Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed landmark legislation – the Affordable Health Care for America Act. And now, the Senate is debating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which would extend coverage to 31 million Americans while protecting those who have coverage from unfair insurance industry practices, like denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition or canceling someone’s coverage when they get sick. And according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, reduce the deficit by $130 billion during the first 10 ten years, and by $650 billion in the following decade.
Organizing for America is committed to supporting President Obama’s agenda for change at the grassroots level. Since June 6th, more than 2.3 million people have taken part in OFA’s health reform campaign and have organized over 23,000 events in all 50 states and every congressional district in support of health insurance reform. On October 20, OFA helped to generate more than 315,000 calls to Congress in a single day, over three times the initial goal.
Health Insurance Reform Roundtable Discussion
Who: Dr. Zaneb Beams, Family Practitioner
Anand Narayan, Johns Hopkins doctoral student
When: Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Chesapeake College
Higher Education Center – HEC 110
1000 College Circle in Wye Mills
###
Recently, Ehrlich has taken to being hostile towards the middle class. For example, on the November 28 show, Ehrlich came out in support of a massive new tax on the middle class, endorsing a health care plan offered by conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. A key part of the plan is imposing a tax on employer-provided health insurance. Krauthammer estimates that this would be a $250 billion tax increase. While others have slammed this proposal for its impact on working Americans, Ehrlich posted the column on his website and told listeners, “Please read this Krauthammer piece, everybody, it’s just fantastic. He is the best writer on the right today.”
Since Ehrlich is the de facto head of the Maryland Republican Party, we wonder if the GOP’s announced gubernatorial candidates, Larry Hogan and Pat McDonough also support this tax increase. They should publicly state a position, now, as Ehrlich has boldly done, so the people of Maryland know where they stand.
Then, this week, Ehrlich came out against helping middle class consumers get access to credit, even when told by another WBAL host that the lack of credit was hurting the economy. Ehrlich also acted as a cheerleader for the recession, declaring that he was “not buying” good economic news:
Brian Kroneberger (host, Financial Hour, previewing his show, which follows the Ehrlichs): We’re going to walk through mixed signals in the economy. We had a better jobs report but the service sector, the manufacturing sector slipped a little bit–
Bob Ehrlich: I’m not buying it, Kroney.
Kendel Ehrlich: Any consumer reports yet on big Thanksgiving weekend?
Kroneberger: November retail sales a little bit lower, uh, than last year’s numbers –
Bob Ehrlich: People showing up but spending less, right?
Kroneberger: They’re showing up, spending less, frugal consumers, but you know –
Ehrlich: Sales, right?
Kroneberger: Credit. Credit cards have just basically taken — if you’re not a worthy consumer in their eyes by the numbers, right? You make ‘em bring down your interest rates and give you plenty of time to pay your bill, well they’ve fought back now and they’ve basically said, “You know what? The heck with it. Anybody that we think is not gonna pay us back, just purely by numbers, we’re gonna just take away their credit line.” And so you’ve got people out there, especially low and moderate income, people who have jobs, they don’t have credit anymore, so it’s going to be very difficult. So everybody down in Washington — Governor, you know this better than everybody — you know, “Go get the mean banks,” right –
Bob Ehrlich: Congress always overreacts. They always overreact. Always.
Kroneberger: But they’re coming back and saying, “You don’t have the credit line.” So that is certainly a negative economic sign.
So, Larry and Pat — who’s side are you on? Do you agree with Bob?
Flickr Photostream
