Another reason we pay so much for health care

Please respond to Senator Patrick Leahy’s request by signing and submitting the attached letter form to our Senators and Representatives proposing that the health insurance carriers be subjected to the same anti-trust laws that every other business excepting baseball is required to adhere.

There must be an end to the monopolistic practices that cause the health insurers to remain free from effective competition and suck up 31% of our health care dollars in such functions as just-say-no claims offices and lawyers to back them up, lobbying of congress and paying exorbitant salaries and benefits to their executives.

One of the ultimate ironies is that when I was President of —————– in Philadelphia and we wanted to band with other hospitals in the Delaware Valley Hospital Organization to be able to conduct joint negotiations with Independence Blue Cross, which virtually controls the health care scene in Philadelphia, we were threatened by Blue Cross with prosecution by the Justice Department for attempting to combine in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and we could not even obtain a so-called “no action letter” from the Justice Department that would have enabled us to conduct such negotiations still under threat of private antitrust litigation by Blue Cross.

“The McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 exempts health insurance companies from the antitrust regulations that apply to nearly every other industry, rules that protect consumers from anti-competitive business practices like price-fixing.

Passing health care reform with an effective public option is one key way to promote competition in the health insurance marketplace, but we must also eliminate this unjustified and unnecessary antitrust exemption currently enjoyed by insurance giants.

That’s why I urge you to support the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act, S. 1681 and H.R. 3596.

This legislation, which has been introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy in the Senate and Rep. John Conyers in the House, will eliminate the outdated insurance industry antitrust exemption, and force health insurance companies to compete fairly — like virtually every other business in America.

Thank you for supporting S. 1681 and H.R. 3596.”