Political Quotes

“And I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule today, one that provides for consideration of H.R. 372, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017, a good bill that I support. Mr. Speaker, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act so that the health insurance companies would no longer be exempt from Federal antitrust regulation. Currently, unfortunately, most types of insurance, including property or life insurance, are exempt from Federal antitrust regulations and statutes. The McCarran-Ferguson Act makes it clear that the insurance industry heretofore has been regulated only by States. Additionally, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have retained authority for antitrust enforcement involving mergers and acquisitions of insurance companies, but not dominations of markets and competition. As a result of this exemption, the health insurance industry does not have to share pricing information, and actually can currently communicate with one another to fix prices. Now, that doesn't make sense. I firmly believe that the more transparency in our healthcare system, the better off consumers will be. Repealing the health insurance exemption of the McCarran-Ferguson Act may improve competition, but it would almost also result in more transparency in health insurance.…”