House votes to kill antitrust exemption for health insurers

February 24, 2010 4:55 p.m. EST


Washington (CNN) -- The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to repeal the antitrust exemption currently granted to health insurance companies.

The vote was 406-19 to repeal the exemption, which has been in place since the end of World War II. The 19 who voted against the repeal are Republicans.

Liberal Democrats have said a repeal would help inject competition into the health care industry while reducing consumer costs.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday that President Obama strongly supports the repeal. "At its core, health reform is all about ensuring that American families and businesses have more choices, benefit from more competition and have greater control over their own health care," Gibbs said.

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http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/24/health.antitrust/

They have nothing to hide their votes behind. So much of the health reform could be jammed through like this