Perriello’s insurance bill misses the mark
Congressman Tom Perriello is scrambling in the wake of the recent election backlash against Washington ’s liberal policies. In a desperate bid to bolster their chances in November, Perriello and his fellow Democrats are trying to re-cast themselves as being for the “little guy” against “big business.” (Why aren’t they ever for the “little guy” against “big government”?)
The latest Perriello ploy is to strip the 65-year anti-trust exemption from health insurance companies. But according to independent analysts, his bill won’t bring down health care costs since insurance prices go up due to the rising cost of health care providers such as doctors and hospitals. Since Perriello’s bill is focused only on insurance companies, it will have little impact on prices. Moreover, health insurance is already among the most heavily regulated industries in America . Insurers are prohibited from colluding to raise prices and from merging at will. They can, however, pool information about risks. And that actually helps them manage ways of controlling costs and rates.
As usual, Perriello’s bill is not the reform that’s needed. Thankfully, political analysts say it will likely die in the Senate. So keep scrambling, Tom. This one isn’t working for you.
Reasonable Response
Edward W. Clark, Jr.
While I rank Perriello very low, I don’t see the harm in removing the anti-trust exemption and am strongly in favor of a few small steps in place of a 2000 page bill that nobody understands. He was one of Pelosi’s lap dogs for a while. Maybe he has figured out that Kaine’s DNC money may not be enough to get him re-elected.
Vince, don’t you see he is panicking? His wet nurse Nancy is going to let him have a few votes that will fool LIBTARD’s and RINO’s into thinking he is something other than a hard core Obama loving socialist. Lil’ Tommy-boy Pelosi-ello is going to do what he is told, or ALLOWED to do by Pelosi/Soros/BHO. Don’t fall for it!