On the recordFebruary 24, 2010
I rise today in support of the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act. An original cosponsor of this legislation, I believe that our health insurance companies need to be held to the competitive standard our free market demands. For too long, these companies have told our constituents what they will insure and what they will be paid. Just recently, 80,000 Iowans were told that their insurance rates would jump by an average of 18 percent, with many facing increases of as much as 25 percent. These same individuals have seen their rates increase by 10 rac{1}{2} percent each year since 2005. I insist that light be shed on the pricing of health care costs and that consumers have access to how their premiums and copays are determined. I would particularly like this information for my constituents whose premium increase is twice what it was in 2009. Iowans in the Third District are struggling to make ends meet. They deserve to know how a company can spend as much as perhaps $200 million on a new headquarters and turn around and double their premium increases from 2009 to 2010 and then claim these two things have nothing to do with one another. Our support for this legislation will make it illegal for companies to price fix, practice bid rigging, and market allocation simply to drive up costs on American consumers.
