From Danville Register Bee by Catherine Amos

In an effort to ensure passage of key components of the U.S. House of Representatives’ health care reform legislation, Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District introduced a bill Friday to repeal the antitrust exemption on health insurance companies.

Freshmen legislators Perriello and Colorado Rep. Betsy Markey, D-4th District, co-authored the bill to end health insurance companies’ monopoly of the market, which Perriello said would force competition and lower health care costs for families and businesses. Perriello voted in favor of the House’s health care reform bill last year; Markey voted against it.

Perriello called their bill “a very important step for fiscal responsibility.”

“I believe this is an opportunity for us to come together hopefully across party lines, across ideological lines to put common sense and pragmatism at the forefront of bringing down cost for consumers in the health care market,” Perriello said at a news conference in Washington on Friday morning.

“When I was out doing the 21 town hall meetings that I did in the month of August,” he said, “I heard from people on the left, from Tea Party folks, from folks in the middle. And almost everyone agreed on this same principle — insurance companies should have to compete like everyone else.”

Insurance companies have enjoyed exemption from federal antitrust laws since 1945, which Perriello said has allowed them to work together to fix prices and establish a monopoly. He said the repeal bill would ensure “basic principles” of common sense, competition and accountability for the health insurance industry.

The Congressional Budget Office has not yet studied the bill, but Perriello said it was a measure that would not cost the federal government any money.

Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the Consumer Federation of America, said at the news conference that the CFA strongly supported the Perriello-Markey bill.

“This is an essential step forward to making insurance more competitive, more pro-consumer and making health insurance more available to consumers,” Plunkett said.

Dr. Thomas Sullivan, former chairman of the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician who used to serve with Perriello’s father, praised the anticipated benefit to children and families if the repeal is a success.

“This exemption ultimately allows insurance companies to abuse their power and abuse the system,” Sullivan said. “…If your legislation is enacted, Tom, children and their families will benefit through lower prices, more choices and better service from insurance companies.”

The bill has not formally dropped yet, but Perriello’s press secretary, Jessica Barba, said it was a two-page bill. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a similar amendment to the Senate health care bill in December, and both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees have passed similar legislation.

“We believe that this is an important step forward regardless of what else happens with health care reform,” Perriello said. “…Some of us who are here for the first time want to try to challenge some of the assumptions of what’s possible. We want a simple, clean bill with no exceptions that will force the health insurance companies to compete. 

“This is an industry that we know needs that competitive kick in the rear.”