To the Editor:

For 63 years the health insurance companies have had an Anti-Trust Exemption granted to them by Congress. Repealing this should have been the first step in health care/insurance/cost reform. Insurance companies have NO incentive to offer reasonable rates and better coverage when the McCarran-Ferguson Anti-Trust Act of 1946 allows them to collude to raise the prices knowing full well we can’t go anywhere else and get a better deal. I had never heard of this exemption until recently and I don’t think it’s common knowledge for most Americans but our Congressmen knew about it.

On Oct. 14 Senator Chuck Schumer of NY suggested that this exemption be revoked in the current health care legislation before Congress. He said, “The health insurance’s antitrust exemption is one of the worst accidents of American history. It deserves a lot of the blame for the huge rise in premiums that has made health insurance so unaffordable. It is time to end this special status and bring true competition to the health insurance industry,” I couldn’t agree more. It should have been done at the start of this debate on health care.

While our Congressmen have a pretty sweet deal when it comes to health care, which includes the Office of the Attending Physician located in the Capitol building, we should let them know the rest of us would like, at least, a chance at getting a fair price.

Please contact your Congressman and tell him you want the exemption repealed right now.

Misty Papesh

St. James City