On the recordFebruary 24, 2010
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me commend you for the excellent leadership that you have provided on this issue. In this debate today, the one point that has been missing is this: What about the American people? That's what this debate should be about. As we speak, 14,000 American citizens and families are losing their health care insurance every single day. And the number one reason they're losing it is because of the high costs of health care insurance. And one of the major reasons why we have the high cost of health care insurance is because the insurance companies do not have competition. And the biggest reason they don't have competition is because they have this shield. They are exempt from competition. That's why we passed the antitrust laws in the very beginning. Go back to John D. Rockefeller and the American Standard Oil companies. That's what it was all about. It was so we could have that competition. Now, there has been much argument on the other side about the sharing of this information. Madam Speaker, I call to your point and the point of this Congress what the Supreme Court said about the sharing of the information in the 1925 case of Maple Flooring Manufacturers' Association v. The United States. It said the pooling of statistics does not violate the antitrust laws. As a matter of fact, it's there, and it helps both small and large businesses. He said it's legitimate.…





