There is never be competition among the insurance companies because they're IMMUNE

Why are we even having this phony debate?


Big Insurance's Competition Immunity


The Sunday morning political talk programs were filled to the brim with health care reform discussions, and central to these discussions is the idea that the insurance industry needs competition. Competition, in the form of a public option or in health care cooperatives, is supposed to level the playing field and bring down premiums for all Americans while providing as close to universal coverage as we can do right now.

There's just one itty bitty, teeny weeny problem. The insurance industry has federal IMMUNITY from competition!

The federal government has not been able to attack the insurance companies through federal anti-trust laws for over 60 years. Under the McCarran-Ferguson Act passed in 1945, insurance companies (and Major League Baseball!) are specifically excluded from federal anti-trust laws as long as the state regulates in that area, and federal anti-trust laws will apply ONLY in cases of boycott, coercion, and intimidation.

Under the McCarran-Ferguson Act, Big Insurance is allowed to collect and SHARE data with each other about claims. With this information, Big Insurance can fix prices, set coverage requirements, outline conditions for coverage denials (like pre-existing conditions), and many, many more.

That's right, folks! Big Insurance can plot together to bring us all down!

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/17/21730/8042

If we don't get a public option everybody can escape into we will all be raped to death.

talking about how they want to fix healthcare! They want the words "pre-existing condition" to become obsolete in America!!! Really? No ones stopping you. You're the ones who invented the "pre-existing condition".
What we really need is single payer health care and we'll make the insurance companies obsolete.

I wonder why it wasn't brought up earlier?