As Navy Blue Wife explained in her excellent diary, the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 holds an anti-trust exemption allowing individual states to regulate insurance companies instead of the Federal government. However, this same Act also states that so long as the state regulates the industry, the federal anti-trust laws will not be applicable. This has given the Health Insurance Industry an unfettered market in which to expand, unchecked by the laws that prevent other businesses from monopolizing. This has led to decades of actions by the Insurance industry that, without that exemption, would be in violation of federal law. The end result is higher cost to the customer.
Motley Moose – Archive
Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics
Health Care Reform is a "Women's Issue"
Really, it’s everyone’s issue: The health care crisis in this country affects all of us, even those fortunate enough to have coverage. But when it comes to health care and dealing with insurance companies, there are special concerns for women, especially if they are buying insurance through the individual market. Some of those concerns vary by state, making them all the more confusing, and unfortunately, a lot of women are unaware of these issues until they run into difficulties. Federal laws provide certain protections for women who receive insurance through their employers, but women purchasing insurance through the individual market face unique problems. They face institutionalized sexism in the form of higher costs, shoddy plans riddled through with gender-based exceptions, and denial of coverage based on a “preexisting condition” that may surprise some of you.
Open Thead
For discussing Obama’s speech and anything else that’s on your minds.
Open Thread: It Was Just Like They Said It Would Be
And it was horrible.
A nightmare. A hit job. A communist manifesto for the new age.
Folks, Rush and the others were right. Today our “president” (if you can rightfully call an unsettlingly BROWN Kenyan usurper “president” of these great white United States) wreaked unimaginable havoc on the minds of our young people. He stood before the best and brightest our great nation has to offer and shat all over our ideals. The tyrant defecated violently all over the Founding Fathers and everything this country has traditionally held dear. Every word oozed socialism and revolution. His every breath stank of the rotting corpse of Karl Marx. The mad ravings of Adolph Hitler rang out through the silence at Obama’s every sinister pause.
Don't Tell.
I’m a coward.
I’m also a liar — but only due to my cowardice.
I am a bisexual deist liberal lying coward living in a smallish city in southern Alabama.
I always thought I was pretty brave, actually. I was born and raised in Alabama, though not in this particular city, so I am no stranger to conservatism. There’s not a single Democrat or Independent in my family (aside from myself), and I have a ton of Republican friends. I think I get along with conservatives pretty well, all things considered. I have a lot of practice. I talk politics with the ones (like my dad) who can stomach a bit of spirited debate and not walk away sore about it, and I gear conversations toward other topics around the ones who can’t (or simply won’t) handle it. But despite all my experience in expressing myself amongst conservatives, I now find myself consistently struggling to hide my true self from those surrounding me.
President Clinton Secures Release of Captive Journalists
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton both played instrumental roles in the release of two captive American journalists who were stopped and detained by North Korean soldiers on March 17, 2009, after purportedly illegally crossing the nation’s borders. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were convicted of “committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry,” and sentenced in June to 12 years hard labor in a North Korean prison camp.
Open Thread (Update)
Fresh open thread for the coming day here in the States. We’ve got several folks here on Motley Moose doing a spectacular job keeping track of events overseas. Being less twitter-savvy than some of you, I sometimes find it a struggle to keep up, and perhaps tend to rely on Nico a bit too much. But I wanted to say, I’m proud of The Moose, and I’m proud to know all of you. The passion I’ve seen here for the Iranian people is breathtaking in its own way.
Oh Good, Still Allowed to Exist!
Just caught the following transcript, and felt like hitting something. Apparently Republican Senator John Goebbels Eichelberger thinks society is doing gays a pretty good turn by “allowing them to exist.”
Open Thread
Carry on.
Change, Iranian Style: Open Thread
Some of the other threads are getting a bit cluttered. Consider this an open thread wherein to continue discussing the Iranian election and protests. Obama’s comments and a couple of news clips below the fold.