The AP is reporting that, according to our Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the merged house bill on health care reform will eliminate the anti-trust exemption the health insurance industry has enjoyed since 1945:
Pelosi has also said the bill would strip the health insurance industry of a long-standing exemption from antitrust laws covering market allocation, price fixing and bid rigging.
This is good news if true!
It has been diaried earlier (here among others) and in the news that members of the Senate have been pushing to have the antitrust exemption stripped, but I had not heard of similar efforts in the house.
More below the fold...
That was the good news. Now for some bad news...
It looks as though the most robust public insurance option (the version that would have based provider reimbursement rates on Medicare rates) will NOT be included, but instead the Secretary of Health and Human Services, currently Kathleen Sebelius, will negotiate rates with providers.
In the end, Pelosi, D-Calif., and other House leaders were unable to round up the necessary votes for their preferred version of the government insurance plan — one that would base payment rates to providers on rates paid by Medicare. Instead, the Health and Human Services secretary would negotiate rates with providers, the approach preferred by moderates and the one that will be featured in the Senate's version.
The article states that Nancy Pelosi is planning a formal announcement in front of the capitol tomorrow morning.
Congratulations, Speaker Pelosi!