Obama Threatens Insurers’ Anti-Trust Exemption

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama mounted a frontal assault on the insurance industry on Saturday, accusing it of airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” to derail his health care legislation and threatening to strip the industry of its longstanding exemption from federal anti-trust laws.

In unusually harsh terms, Mr. Obama cast insurance companies as obstacles to change interested only in preserving their own “profits and bonuses” and willing to “bend the truth or break it” to stop his drive to remake the nation’s health care system. The president used his weekly radio and Internet address to push back against industry assertions that legislation will drive up premiums.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.”
Rather than trying to curb costs and help patients, he said the industry is busy “figuring out how to avoid covering people. And they’re earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exemption from our anti-trust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing.”

-snip-
He went on to attack other critics he described as tools of the industry. “Of course, like clockwork, we’ve seen folks on cable television who know better, waving these industry-funded studies in the air,” he said. “We’ve seen industry insiders — and their apologists — citing these studies as proof of claims that just aren’t true.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/us/politics/18address.html?_r=1&hp

I'm a huge Obama supporter, but I've been holding my breath as to how much he will continue the corporate machine that is DC. I know it's still talk at this point, but it's talk I like to hear. It's going in the right direction, at least.

months.

Let's face it, August would have been much worse if all the industries had been overtly attacking health care reform instead of just using their astroturf groups where the critics frequently looked unhinged (and were unhinged).

We'll be at war with the insurance industry as we pass this legislation and then they are ramping up the battle with the banks/financial firms re financial regulations. If we go into an election year battling the banks and Republicans defending them then I think we are going to be OK in the 2010 elections. The main problem is how many Dems in Congress are going to go along with the Banks fighting creating a Consumer Protection Agency and other reforms. We need to keep a lot of pressure on them.

To make the insurance companies really think they were going to benefit from this and keep quiet.

The public option was kept on the shelf to keep the insurance companies quiet until it was too late.

Of course everyone on DU thinks I'm crazy for thinking this, but whatever, that's what I think.

just that people on DU have just been short on comprehension.


:toast:

I think the real problem is that people can't or won't look at the big picture. It's not a lack of comprehension, but a lack of patience. They want what they want, and they want it now!

I'm feeling positive today, so I'll take it. :D

I am more concerned that there will be a 3+ year wait to see results and we have 2 elections to get through in that time.

For Dems to win, we have to go after the banks and hard. That is one thing everyone in the country who doesn't work on Wall Street can agree on.

We expect overnight success and the problems we face are not overnight problems. These are the type of problems that take YEARS to fix. If not decades.

The problem is health care. This bill is insurance reform, which addresses health care indirectly, and is a good starting point (as opposed to single payer which would address health care directly). The problem RTL identified is that it is a 3+ year time period before the the plan insurance reform begins to kick in - time in which the remedy could be radically modified by a new Congress - and potentially a new President.

I don't expect health care to be 100% fixed the moment the bill is implemented (and I was not one of the ones impatient because it was not resolved in August). I don't even expect it to be 100% fixed by the time the bill is fully implemented - I believe 7 years down the road.

I do expect whatever is included in this down payment on fixing access to health care to have an immediate impact on the ability of the people who are currently most in need of such access. It is unacceptable to ask individuals who are dying to wait another 3+ years before providing access to health care - particularly when we have been bailing out corporations right and left with virtually no wait required.

I DID NOT KNOW health insurance companies were exempt!!!! I can't understand WHY they would be privileged with such an exemption unless they had previously promised to do no harm (which is ALWAYS bullshit when it comes to a company seeking to make as much money as possible).

Frankly, I still have trouble comprehending how any company managed to get in the business of dictating people's health for profit. How did that happen in a "moral" nation,...hahaha,...a "moral" nation.

Both exempt from anti-trust laws.

It's crazy.

being exempt from anti-trust laws, doesn't that mean it's legally for these bastards to get together and fix prices? No wonder this whole thing is a mess.

the rest are playing Checkers. I think there is merit to what you've said.

to somehow benefit us, The People?


ok.

I think you hit the nail on the head
:toast:

war with the insurance companies when we pass HCR. When we win (and we will) won't mean it's over by a long shot.

They will fight this, the rethugs will fight this even after it passes.

I think that he played his cards right, just like a good poker player. He has drawn them out and now is the time to time to stomp them into the dust. Too bad that it wasn't on national TV during prime time.

I would fully support the repeal of the health insurance company's anti-trust exclusion. The Republicans always tout their support of no holds barred capitalism while in reality always stacking the deck in favor of their most cherished lobbyist as they hold out their greedy little hands for their payoff.

Weekly Address: Taking the Insurance Companies on Down the Stretch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqXgp5mWU00

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
October 17, 2009

Over the better part of the past year, a great debate has taken place in Washington and across America, about how to reform our health care system to provide security for people with insurance, coverage for those without insurance, and lower costs for everyone. From the halls of Congress to the homes of ordinary Americans, this debate has helped us to forge consensus and find common ground. That's a good thing. That's what America is all about.

Now, as the debate draws to a close, we can point to a broad and growing coalition of doctors and nurses, workers and businesses, hospitals and even drug companies – folks who represent different parties and perspectives, including leading Democrats and many leading Republicans – who recognize the urgency of action. Just this week, the Senate Finance Committee approved a reform proposal that has both Democratic and Republican support. For the first time ever, all five committees in Congress responsible for health reform have passed a version of legislation. As I speak to you today, we are closer to reforming the health care system than we have ever been in history.

But this is not the time to pat ourselves on the back. This is not the time to grow complacent. There are still significant details and disagreements to be worked out in the coming weeks. And there are still those who would try to kill reform at any cost. The history is clear: for decades rising health care costs have unleashed havoc on families, businesses, and the economy. And for decades, whenever we have tried to reform the system, the insurance companies have done everything in their considerable power to stop us.

We know that this inaction has carried a terrible toll. In the past decade, premiums have doubled. Over the past few years, total out of pocket costs for people with insurance rose by a third. And we know that if we do not reform the system, this will only be a preview of coming attractions. A new report for the Business Roundtable – a non-partisan group that represents the CEOs of major companies – found that without significant reform, health care costs for these employers and their employees will well more than double again over the next decade. The cost per person for health insurance will rise by almost $18,000. That's a huge amount of money. That's going to mean lower salaries and higher unemployment, lower profits and higher rolls of uninsured. It is no exaggeration to say, that unless we act, these costs will devastate the US economy.

This is the unsustainable path we're on, and it's the path the insurers want to keep us on. In fact, the insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest – to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo. They're filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They're flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions. And they're funding studies designed to mislead the American people.

Of course, like clockwork, we've seen folks on cable television who know better, waving these industry-funded studies in the air. We've seen industry insiders – and their apologists – citing these studies as proof of claims that just aren't true. They'll claim that premiums will go up under reform; but they know that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that reforms will lower premiums in a new insurance exchange while offering consumer protections that will limit out-of-pocket costs and prevent discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. They'll claim that you'll have to pay more out of pocket; but they know that this is based on a study that willfully ignores whole sections of the bill, including tax credits and cost savings that will greatly benefit middle class families. Even the authors of one of these studies have now admitted publicly that the insurance companies actually asked them to do an incomplete job.

It's smoke and mirrors. It's bogus. And it's all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, “Take one of these, and call us in a decade.” Well, not this time. The fact is, the insurance industry is making this last-ditch effort to stop reform even as costs continue to rise and our health care dollars continue to be poured into their profits, bonuses, and administrative costs that do nothing to make us healthy – that often actually go toward figuring out how to avoid covering people. And they're earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exception from our anti-trust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing.

Now, I welcome a good debate. I welcome the chance to defend our proposals and to test our ideas in the fires of this democracy. But what I will not abide are those who would bend the truth – or break it – to score political points and stop our progress as a country. And what we all must oppose are the same old cynical Washington games that have been played for decades even as our problems have grown and our challenges have mounted.

Last November, the American people went to the polls in historic numbers and demanded change. They wanted a change in our policies; but they also sought a change in our politics: a politics that too often has fallen prey to the lobbyists and the special interests; that has fostered division and sustained the status quo. Passing health insurance reform is a great test of this proposition. Yes, it will make a profound and positive difference in the lives of the American people. But it also now represents something more: whether or not we as a nation are capable of tackling our toughest challenges, if we can serve the national interest despite the unrelenting efforts of the special interests; if we can still do big things in America.

I believe we can. I believe we will. And I urge every member of Congress to stand against the power plays and political ploys – and to stand up on behalf the American people who sent us to Washington to do their business.

Thank you.

I've seen it before. Saturday addresses are 'rally the base' events. That's because
the base are the the only ones paying attention. I remember one Saturday address
where Obama was talking tough on the Banksters too. How has that gone?

:eyes:

I've heard rumors that some other hard-hitting investigations are drawing to conclusion, as well. Even the anti-government "conservatives" would leap at Wall Street prosecutions associated with their precious tax dollars (they'd keep it in the closet, of course).

That would be QUITE a fight!

They can dismember the corporations or their greedy executives, I do not care which but the either/or should be just that plain.

in at Free Republic, but I don't understand it here.

Clearly you belong there.

all their profits.

And tax them like they deserve. And do something about getting our money back from Goldman Sachs too.

- Public option. Period.

once again the shrinking middle class is being called upon to bail out the rich, fight their wars, etc. It's enough to make you sick. Is that covered under Baucus plan?

Yes?

The only ones who can actually do anything about this have been bought off.

Here is a link on Kos to watch it.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/17/794204/-Obama:-Health-care-reform-is-a-great-test-for-America

Cheney'll sic his assassination team on him.

I'm not kidding.

Joe Biden.

Same function Dan Quayle served for Bush the Smarter, but for different reasons.

,...I have a feeling Obama is charmed more than most: he has a LOT of protection.

What is the possible justification for this exemption?

Dems need to stop talking and start doing!

See NORML v. Partnership For A Drug Free America.

He worked hard to negotiate, as he said he would, tried to find a bipartisan solution, as he said he would, and let them be who we knew they were. And now it's time to treat them the way they deserve to be treated.

Too bad he didn't roll this speech out in spring, with a Single Payer plan. One wonders if he had pushed the Single Payer along with aggressive counter ads and speeches against the no doubt rabid counter ads from FAUX and Big Insurance, if he would be more ahead of the loop right now. Maybe now the compromise would have been a strong public option instead of single payer. I fear the final compromise, after Reid the wimp gets through with it in the Senate, will have such a weak public option, if there is one, it won't be worth doing.

As much as we hated the president's attempts at bipartisanship (because we knew it wouldn't work), I believe it had to be demonstrated to the world just who the Repubicans are. Obama has demonstrated incredible patience with his attempts, and his extended hand was smacked away. Everyone knows now that Republicans have no desire to do anything other than advance their own agenda with absolutely NO compromising - the hell with what the other 75 percent of the country wants. Sometimes we don't like it when Democrats do consider the rest of the country, but most of us do not believe in "most" instances that it has to be completely our way every time.

Edit: Sorry, for some reason I posted twice with one click of the button.

As much as we hated the president's attempts at bipartisanship (because we knew it wouldn't work), I believe it had to be demonstrated to the world just who the Repubicans are. Obama has demonstrated incredible patience with his attempts, and his extended hand was smacked away. Everyone knows now that Republicans have no desire to do anything other than advance their own agenda with absolutely NO compromising - the hell with what the other 75 percent of the country wants. Sometimes we don't like it when Democrats do consider the rest of the country, but most of us do not believe in "most" instances that it has to be completely our way every time.

We must respect the process; this is a master chess player at work.
We must keep telling him what we are passionate about...this energizes him!

You could see the dems starting to make their strategic move on October 14th when Sen. Schumer, Rep. Alan Grayson, Wendell Potter, Keith Olbermann all focused on the Repeal of the Insurers' Anti-Trust Exemption.
Then Pelosi then Obama.
Here's a link to the Oct 14th vids leading up to all of this: http://www.demconwatchblog.com/diary/2581/repeal-insurers-antitrust-exemption

It is fascinating to watch Obama sit back and let the repubs play their hand and then BOOM Obama hits the right at the correct time!

I'm wondering if anti-trust was the real hammer Obama was intending to hit insurers with all along.

His strategy was to have Democrats shout "Public option! Public Option! Public Option!" for months, get the Rethugs and the insurers to blow their wad and expend their energy fighting it, (and hopefully losing - I really damn well want that public option,) then as the bill gets to the endgame, then showing his real weapon - antitrust.

The insurers know they're gonna have a hard time fighting off anti-trust regulation - virtually the entire public hates them, has been screwed, or knows someone who's been screwed by them, and demand action.

It could come down to Obama telling the insurers "Take the public option, or lose your anti-trust exemption. Pick one."

Though I hope we get both a public option AND anti-trust regulation of insurers. ;)

instead of privatized, as both versions now in Congress are. NO MANDATE FOR PRIVATE INSURANCE!

This is just insane. We should all be fighting to keep SINGLE PAYER in the bills, not the LOWEST COMMON DENMENATOR!!!

Nice words - but I'll hold my "judgement" of his pretty WORDS until I see ACTION.

If we get no public option FOR EVERYONE with MANDATES, then I'm against the bill. Period.

On Thursday, Pelosi noted to reporters that the Judiciary Committee had held a hearing on repealing the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts the insurance industry from antitrust laws.

Conyers announced Friday he'd take it to the next level and hold a vote on October 21.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/17/house-vote-on-insurance-i_n_324732.html

They have proven they can't be trusted.

It's time to take them to the woodshed.

It was like there was a coordinated attack planned in anticipation of the insurance companies causing trouble. They had a plan in place to head them off, and thank God for that.

The day after the insurance company ads came out...boom! Congress and now the WH attack.

Break up the big ones, force them to knock off the collusion, price-fixing & gouging, make them actually compete with each other, and we'll have market forces that actually do something positive for a change. They'll be forced to drop their prices and treat their customers better.

Toss a public option on top of this, and things might become positively reasonable.

for insurers to "lower prices" - with this COLLUSION in the the anti-trust EXEMPTION, even if such a thing were to occur - the fucking insurers would just COLLUDE to KEEP PRICES THE SAME/HIGH!!!

"Thanks" repukes!!!

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

is noted.

The trolls have taken over, apparently (whether from freep-land or Greenland or Naderville.

The majority of the comments on this thread are NOT negative.
Perhaps you should reread the thread.

But many here aren't satisfied with mere words, and rightfully so. It is action that counts. If he actually follows through with strong and decisive action, I'm sure everyone here will give him credit and get behind him with genuine enthusiasm. Unfortunately, his words are often praiseworthy, but his actions (on the things that matter most) are not. The negative attitude around here will turn on a dime as soon as Obama starts fighting for the people of this nation, instead of trying to appease Republicans in Congress and the corps. And that's exactly how it should be.

That's all he can do until the bill comes to his desk.

...is past behavior. So it is perfectly reasonable for progressives to expect the worst unless/until they see a significant change. When that occurs he'll get credit for it. Until then he'll wear the mantel of a Caspar Milquetoast and a sell-out.

He didn't accomplish everything within a week, he sucks. DU's special vintage.

Julie

Thanks for the thread, Pirate Smile.

This country belongs to the people, not those bloated bastards.

This is what we want to hear.

:toast:

you bring a knife, I'll bring a gun-- anti-trust legislation!

...threatening to raise rates if they didn't get their way.

Kick 'em in the nuts, Mr. President!

Because of the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts the insurance industry from antitrust laws.

Conyers announced Friday that there will be a HOUSE vote on October 21st to Repeal the Insurers' Anti-Trust Exemption.

Have they finally gotten their house in order and executed a well thought out plan?!!!!

:woohoo:

This is the first time in many, many years I am feeling some sense of progress! DAYUM! I'm feeling excited!!

:woohoo:

(but not quite yet) ;)

The insurance companies are required to keep huge cash reserves for emergencies. Well they were huge. In today's dollars, not so much. The monetary requirements kept competition to a minimum. The regulations had the effect of subsidizing the insurers. Eventually the trial lawyers, lobbyists and PHDs made mincemeat of the system by getting politicians to work their legislative sleight of hand. A little here, a little there, year after year.

And to the jerk that unrec'd this thread, you must work for an insurer!!! :puke:

Go, Barack!

the time for talk is over.

this from day one, legislation would be on the books.

Like a great chess player. If he'd come out with harsh language that on day one, before they had painted themselves into a corner with all the crazy talk, they would have been able to paint him into the same corner.

I wonder if this was a longtime strategy or an improvised response to the insurance industry's refusal to accept reform, its recent offensive against Obama and its summer sponsoring of the TeaBaggers...the insurance corporations are not going to give up their for profit health system without a fight, breaking up their monopolies would be a good first step towards reform.

I like Obama's idea to tax the rich 100%! I make $22,000 a year working my tail off. I have no insurance, I have nothing to look forward to. I live a simple life that feeds my family and I am very happy. He said the number should be $250,000; I totally disagree. It should be $40,000 or higher. Only the rich folks have money to send their kids to fancy schools; I had none of that. We have people and homeless starving all around the globe and in this country. What does $40K or more a year buy - oversized houses and cars and stuff for spoiled brats. That is why our landfills are so full - junk we don't need, but the TV and the profiters say we need to buy waste like snuggies. Greed is the root of all evil. I think Obama is acheiving alot to get this country on living right.

I'm off to email the Pres a hearty "Attaboy!"

Having been in, but not of, the insurance industry, I can testify that our President is still being diplomatic in his descriptions of the business. I believe the term "criminal enterprise" best fits insurance companies.
Might I recommend a book entitled "Serpent on the Rock" to anyone interested in a true expose' of these gangsters.

still pay the price of mixing in.