Lois Capps: “It is a funny thing here, we are being told that the Republicans want to inject competition into the insurance market.…”

“It is a funny thing here, we are being told that the Republicans want to inject competition into the insurance market. Well, if they really want to do that, why do they not support my bill to lift the antitrust exemption from the insurance industry? The only industries in America exempt from antitrust law who can and do get together in private resorts on an annual basis to collude, to fix prices and red line out a whole bunch of potential clients is the insurance industry and, of course, professional sports. These are the only industries in America in a country of capitalism and competition who are exempt from any restriction on collusion. Now we are going to throw our seniors onto the tender mercies of this collusive, anticompetitive industry. Oh, that is great. My seniors already had this experience. We had Medicare+Choice, HMOs. Oh, this is going to be great. You are going to get more benefits than under fee-for-service. Well, the companies were not able to collude and set the prices quite high enough to satisfy their profits, so they up and left with very little notice. My seniors were left in the cold.”