The health insurance industry is exempt from federal anti-trust laws. Senate Democrats now say they'll try to change that. Should they?

This is pure political thuggery by the Democrats. Dare to oppose our legislation and we will use the power of the Federal Government to crush you. A perfect example of Chicago politics come to Washington.

Wake up and try to preserve your freedom while you still can!

Federal regulations are like the tides, they come in then they go out, example Standard Oil, etal. I think today any anti-trust law should apply to any entity judged too big to fail. This should start with out government and we should return to the original Federal Republic form and let the States decide the legislation we need.
One thought on Universal Health care by government. Isn't this what the State of California has? Hasn't California run out of money? Look there for the future.

The democrats show their pettiness by threatening the health insurance industry because they dared to raise a challenge to ObamaCare. Agreed, strong-arm politics at its....worst. And it is a way of life for this Administration. Fox News dares to expose the left wing influence, so let's attack. The Tea Party Protestors dare to have a dissenting view of the direction Obama is taking us, so let's trivialize their influence.

And, every state that has tried their version of "universial care" has run up enormous costs, leading to higher taxes, worse care (Massachusetts, Maine, California), and in some cases they were forced to abandon the project (Tennessee).

And, when will we abandon the pretense that this is about health care "reform?" In what universe does taking 1/6 to 1/5 of the economy into the bureaucratic morass of big government constitute "reform?" This is a takeover, a power grab, an attempt to solidify the Democrat welfare state as our permanent form of Government.

Are we going to let this happen?

Democrats will try to change anything just to get control of it. Must be a $ in their back pockets. Democrats have proven that they do not care about anyone except themselfs, not us the taxpayer all they want is more and more.

Rick is right. Speak out against bad legislation and the government will try to crush you. This public option thing is a smokescreen. It is a precursor for the government to take over the health insurance industry and the health care industry next.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you must, but I believe that there are bigger plans for government takeover of more industries than is apparent today. You start with the semi-nationalization of the banks and auto industry, move into health care and then other highly profitable companies.

Using the unemployment crises as the shield, the politicians will start talking about the obscene profits being made by companies that are not hiring back employees. They will start suggesting that government take over these companies and use these profits to hire employees instead of the profits going to the shareholders and company executives. Of course many of the great unwashed will think this is a wonderful idea. Why should the rich keep getting richer while they don't have a job. They need to share the wealth, as a Marxist Messiah once said. I can see many talking heads in the media and entertainment industry praising that idea. They will claim that full employment will save the country and the only way to achieve full employment is to use the profits of a company to hire workers and not to pad some rich, fat cats pockets.

Ah yes, a Utopian society is just around the corner, I can smell it coming. Don't you smell the stench?

I am not sure I understand the implications of removing anti-trust protections from insurance companies...doesn't that mean they cannot price-fix and won't that open up competition. Assuming that it is not followed by a "public option."

just look across the pond and you'll see where the same ideology has gotten them.25% unemployment,massive welfare systems and people that don't want to work because it's too easy to sit back and collect a check on the backs of people that do work.the demoncrats point out that they don't have massive militaries to continue their life of ease but,what they don't point out is that we're the ones that pull their asses out of the fire.

All sides are playing hardball now – finally. The insurance industry releases a bogus report right before the vote in the Senate, and now the Senate hits back. Even the authors of the report distanced themselves from the distorted conclusion by insurance companies, and the numbers have been discredited. Now I am waiting for anyone to tell me why the anti-trust protections from the 1940s are still relevant today. Is there an agenda behind proposing to repeal McCarran-Ferguson now? Of course there is – the Senate is pissed that the industry stabbed them in the back with that report. But, repeal also makes sense. Anti-trust exemptions are not rational in an increasingly national or even global economy. We should be able to buy insurance from any provider we want.

Puzzled, that's right. Why would we protect a system that allows companies to fix prices?

barterman1955, what country are you comparing us to? I don't see 25% unemployment in any major country.

Rick, this is politics. If you can't stand the heat ...

David, and Republicans are concerned about you? That must be why they proposed immigration reform.

You are correct I.M.Dem, we should be able to buy insurance from any provider we want. That is why we need less government regulation. Insurance companies should be able to provide policies across state line without every state having different requirements. We should be able to pick and choose the coverage we want without the government mandating coverage that we pay for but don't need. I for one don't need to have mammograms and pap smears paid for by my insurance company. However, since that is mandated coverage by the government part of my premium goes to pay for that mandated coverage.

State insurance commissioners play the insurance game to garner votes so they can stay in their cushy jobs. Don't think for a moment that insurance commissioners are interested in protecting the public more more than keeping their jobs. Yes, their is a place for them to protect us from unscrupulous agents and insurance companies, but not to mandate what coverage they provide and set the premiums we pay. A free and open marketplace is the best way to get the most bang for our bucks.

Mandating coverage for pre-existing conditions will have one of two effects: 1) Increasing premiums for everyone to pay for those that didn't buy insurance until they got severely ill. 2) Force some insurance companies to stop offering health insurance due to the exorbitant losses that they would face.

Also, there should not be a provision for mandatory insurance. That is up to individual responsibility. If I don't want to purchase insurance it is my right not to do so. If I don't purchase fire insurance and my house burns down I have to live with the consequences. It should not be up to the government to force you to pay for fire insurance that I didn't want to buy. The same goes for health insurance.

Actually I.M.Dem, there are 37 countries with unemployment at 20% or better led by Liberia with 85% unemployment. Makes our 10% look good, doesn't it?

IMD,
I am guessing here but you are NOT a born and raised North Carolinian are you? My guess would be an import from say.........NY? Just like the rest of your liberal buddies from yankeeville, you came south to be the big fish in a little pond and feel the power over the backwoods people in the south. Pack up your BofA and go home.

IMD No problem with heat here. I have the Senior Citizen and the Constitution on my side.

You guys are the ones who have to pass legislation in the middle of the night for fear that we will be able to find out what is in it before the vote. You are the ones blocking free trade and keeping unemployment high. You are the ones whose foreign "policy" is making us the laughingstock of the world. You are the ones whose policies brought down the economic system. You are the ones who are spending my grandchildren into a life of indentured servitude.

I plan to stay in the kitchen for a good long while, and if it gets a little warm, I'll open up some windows and let in some light and fresh air.

Jim, I left "yankeville" to get away from those whacko morons and their rude and crappy driving habits in their pathetic looking suburbans and escapades. 15 years ago I left there and never looked back. Only problem is that all of the a-holes have now come down here and I wish they'd leave too. Raleigh seems to be missing lots of idiots I hear. Looks like I will be leaving in search of a place without those north eastern moron libs again. Not all of us from up there are bad.

Insurance industry standard generates only about 3% net profit from revenues, well below other industries. For all of the hooplah that Al Gardner, who obviously wrote this question and has been hammering his guests with questions about how slanted any insurance industry information is, how much hay they make about greedy insurance companies, 3 % is not a big return on revenue. The question to lift protection from anti trust laws (which were enacted during another progressive administration to punish economic success, and did nothing but raise the cost of goods on everybody) is routed in destroying the industry. Yes, that is the goal. Tell the insurance what they must cover, tell the industry what they can charge, create a public option to compete with insurance, tax businesses and people who continue to buy private insurance, and then slam them with mega law suits to deliver the coup de grace. Wallah; single payer system healthcare...Obamacare complete. Wake up people! your driving down the road to serfdom, and few people see it.

IMD: what planet are you on? Maybe too much Obama-aide in your glass. I was born and raised here, something you can't say with your liberal rantings.

Lisa, I too am a damned Yankee. You know, the ones that come down here and then stay. The run-of-the-mill Yankees go back up north where they belong,.

I too am an uprooted Yankee. I moved to the south years ago to get away as you both did. I embrace the south and it's values and way of life. That is why I left. I swear I will never go back. Being in the south for these years I have never seen the influence of the big city wannabe's as much as I have since moving from Alabama to Charlotte. Sad stuff.

Well we're glad to have you here, Lisa. It's just people like IMD, pratt, kathy and michael-who give us tresonous little bastards like hagan, perdue, and others, that piss us southerners off.

Oh, and also, loafer and jim, thanks for helping us oppose these traitors.

Charlotte, a World Class City wannabe! ....What the hell is a World Class City?

will i am i have lived here all my life and i bet it is longer than you have been here, we do have a bad element here though. it is made of people who are still fighting the civil war, rednecks, trailor trash, drugster koolaid drinking idiots, and oh yes you who tops the list who makes this part of the country look backward.

pratt, maybe you need to get out more and see other parts of the world. Living here all your life doesn't make you any type of expert. Again you mention "drugster Kool Aid drinking idiots". Must be talking about yourself and that admitted cocaine user, Obama. You really need to stop drinking his Kool Aid and clear your mind a little. But it has probably turned to mush and not worth salvaging.

This knee-jerk reaction to anything from the Obama administration justifies the way he deals with his critics. Why in heaven's name would anyone support anti-trust exemptions? That is just brutally senseless! Franks was right - it's like arguing with a dining room table.