On the recordFebruary 23, 2010
Thank you, Representative Perriello. When we start talking about this competition, we wonder about the benefits that are so drastically needed because we see now that some companies are looking at charging a 39 percent increase for the premium; 39 percent. That is a gross, gross, difficult outcome for consumers in this country. What is driving it? Well, yeah, there is lack of competition, but that lack of competition, that allows for a rather comfortable zone to increase CEO salaries. And when we look at the big five again, the largest insurers, the data shows that the CEOs were compensated up to $24 million in 2008. That is, I think, an outcome driven by a lack of competition. That pressure isn't there to respond, and so you just easily pass it over to the consumer. And without any sort of reform here, this will continue to grow. I know that there had been many suggesting from studies that are very much respected that the average family plan will be increased by about $1,800 per year. Today, that is an average of $13,000, I believe, for a family plan. Well, in a short decade, we are just going to transpose those numbers, so 13 grows to 31. 31,000 is a train wreck waiting to happen. It is unsustainable. It is the sort of outcome we get when we don't take the bull by the horns and say, look, there is a simple reform. It is straightforward. It is basic. It calls for the all-American sense of competition, the all-American quality of competition, a good thing.
