John Garamendi: “If I might, Mr. Tonko just reminded me of two cases. One, a New York case last year in which the New York Attorney…”

“If I might, Mr. Tonko just reminded me of two cases. One, a New York case last year in which the New York Attorney General brought action against 11 insurance companies in your State of New York who had conspired not only against consumers but against doctors and hospitals to artificially lower their rate of reimbursement to those hospitals. Now, that followed on the heels of another national case in which insurance companies, the largest insurance companies in this Nation, also conspired against doctors in reducing their rates in a conspiracy. Those kinds of conspiracies are specifically outlawed by the antitrust laws of this Nation and this bill. I thank you so very much, Mr. Perriello and Ms. Markey, for bringing this to our attention, bringing this bill here, because the kind of conspiracy that we have evidence that exists in America today will be outlawed at the Federal level. These other cases were brought in State courts where there are antitrust laws that prohibit these kinds of conspiracies to harm the consumers or the providers of services.”