This is a critically important week on the path to health care reform. On Tuesday I met with Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Rep. DeFazio, and Wendell Potter about the need to place health insurance companies under antitrust law. Yesterday I led the House in enacting the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act, which will do just that. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to move quickly to follow our lead, and not add this bill to the 290 bills already passed by the House but stuck idling in the Senate.
We have the momentum now. We have learned this week of unreasonable and unacceptable rate hikes by health insurance companies who are already making billions of dollars in profits. Anthem Blue Cross in California is facing millions of dollars in fines as a consequence of hundreds of violations of state law. These abuses have reminded Americans both inside and outside the Beltway of the need to reform our health insurance system.
It is time to pass a health care bill that makes insurance more affordable, ensures that insurance companies treat their customers fairly, and expands access to those who currently cannot afford insurance or have been denied it because of pre-existing conditions.
Today, I will be meeting with President Obama and key members of Congress at the White House Health Care Summit, and leading the debate on insurance reform. My goal and expectation for the summit is nothing short of a comprehensive health care bill that we will pass into law.
The summit will be bipartisan, just as this entire process has been. The House bill included 18 Republican proposals, and President Obama's plan includes ideas such as strengthening small business protections, increasing anti-fraud efforts, and improving access to community mental health centers.
I would encourage all of my colleagues to join us in passing this bill. The forces opposing this bill are the same as they have been for a hundred years. We have no excuse for failing to overcome a century of stalled attempts at reform.
I invite you to watch the White House summit at my website starting at 10 a.m., and to use this diary to discuss it.