Although the health care reform debate may be quieter now that Scott Brown has been elected, causing Democrats to lose their majority, it's definitely not over. Before Brown's election, Democrats wanted one sweeping reform bill that would encompass everything they hoped to achieve. And though negotiations continue between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to try to create such a bill, it seems more and more likely that any reform will be passed through a series of small, targeted bills.
To start, voting will soon take place to repeal the antitrust exemption that health insurance carriers currently enjoy. The repeal – which was included in the House-passed health care overhaul bill but not the Senate's version – has been a top priority for some House Democrats. Health insurers are currently exempt from federal antitrust laws, which are designed to protect consumers from price fixing and other anti-competitive acts. The insurance industry has said that the exemption is warranted because health insurers are regulated by individual states. But a number of lawmakers and consumer groups support a repeal of the exemption, arguing that states often lack the resources to effectively regulate the insurance industry. If repealed, the law would most likely not be earth-shattering for insurers, since most of them are already subject to state laws. It would simply redefine who has control over the companies.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners sees it a little differently, claiming that "the most likely result of this repeal would … not be increased competition, but a series of lawsuits testing the limits of the state action doctrine, with associated litigation costs being passed along to consumers in the form of higher premiums."
The antitrust repeal is, for now, the only item on the agenda that is related to the health bill. The Obama administration has openly admitted that it plans to take a break from health care, at least for awhile, while it focuses on other issues such as the unemployment rate and an effort to increase hiring.
