Free markets and health insurance

I've written before on why the "market model" fails when talking about health care. Read that here.

But an even more interesting sidelight on the debate is that Republicans favor a "market defeating" exemption for insurance companies.

According to a story last October on NPR, Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse has "noted that in 39 states, two health insurers control at least half the market, while in nine states, one insurer controls at least three-quarters of the market."

What is the inevitable result of these monopolies? Higher prices, and a system designed to benefit the insurance companies.

According to the NPR story, it was in 1945 that lawmakers "passed the McCarran-Ferguson Act; the law has ever since shielded insurance firms from federal prosecution for price fixing, bid rigging and carving out protected markets."

Let the "free market" Republicans stand up now and vote to repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act and return their beloved competition to the insurance market.

Yes, while we are at it, we need to let insurers offer insurance across state lines. Democrats should embrace tort reform, and put limits on outrageous awards. Medicine in difficult and complicated and outcomes are not guaranteed.

Small steps, indeed, but necessary nonetheless.