... Can Property, Casualty, Life and Other Insurance Companies be far behind?
The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly this week to regulate Health Insurance Companies. A majority of the House Judiciary Committee voted to repeal the Antitrust Exemption for Health Insurance Companies. The Antitrust Exemption for all Insurance Companies was legislated by Congress in 1945. See, e.g., Janet Adamy and Greg Hitt, "Vote on Medicare Payment Cut Divides Democrats" p.A6, col. 1 (Wall Street Journal, Thursday, October 22, 2009); Shailagh Murray, "Senate Keeps Medicare Payment Formula" (Washington Post Online, Thursday, October 22, 2009).
Clearly, this is just the opening bid. The goal is power. In this instance, the goal is replacing State Regulation of all Insurance Companies, starting with Federal Regulation of Health Insurance Companies. This is not necessarily such a good idea. It will mean replacing people who have demonstrated both personal and institutional expertise and experience in State Regulation of Insurance Companies. They will be replaced with people who will apply for new jobs in Washington, D.C. The new jobs will be dispensed with the recommendations of Members of Congress. Neither the new jobseekers nor the Members of Congress may clearly know very much, if anything, about Insurance Regulation.
It is more than a little like firing all the personnel who are experienced in Emergency Management, for example, and putting the new hires under the control of a horse trainer -- and expecting good things to happen too.
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