Day: October 22, 2009

BREAKING: Gene Taylor Joins 14 Other US Representatives Urging Speaker Pelosi to Revoke the Anti-Trust Exemptions for Health Insurance Companies

 

TAYLOR, DEFAZIO, WELCH, STUPAK URGE SPEAKER TO REVOKE ANTI-TRUST EXEMPTIONS FOR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES

WASHINGTON, DC – Reps. Gene Taylor (D-MS) Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Bart Stupak (D-MI) today sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi urging her to include language in the health reform bill that would require the health insurance industry to operate under the same anti-trust laws as all other industries.

“Insurance companies should not be above the law.”  Rep. Taylor stated. “While this effort applies only to health insurance, Congress should follow up and repeal the antitrust exemption for all lines of insurance.”

The health insurance industry–as well as all other lines of insurance–has operated beyond the reach of America’s anti-trust laws since the McCarran-Ferguson Act was passed by Congress in 1945. This exemption was intended to be temporary, but it has not turned out that way. The insurance industry claims that are currently subject to state anti-trust laws. The truth is many states have limited resources to investigate and go after anti-trust violations.

Repealing the antiquated McCarran-Ferguson law would effectively end insurance company collusion and bring much-needed competition to the industry. The Consumer Federation of America has said that this action alone would save consumers more than $40 billion in insurance premiums.

The letter, also signed by Reps. John W. Olver, Daniel Lipinski, Pete Visclosky, Raul Grijalva, Betty Sutton, Elijah E. Cummings, Dennis Kucinich, Eric Massa, Earl Blumenauer, Brian Baird and Bob Filner, is available below: Continue reading “BREAKING: Gene Taylor Joins 14 Other US Representatives Urging Speaker Pelosi to Revoke the Anti-Trust Exemptions for Health Insurance Companies”

Moooving right along Slabbed Profiles Beef Plant Prosecution Aftermath: Cheryl Moultrie Speaks Out

After one of our Georgia based readers stopped in and left a comment earlier this week on my last Beef Plant post from December 2008 I openly wondered if my predictions concerning bad times ahead for convicted felon Robert Moultrie’s company, The Facility Group, had come to fruition. In response Nonya provided this answer:

They are going broke, Robert’s in jail, Cheryl is trying to sell everything off, TFG is just a skeleton crew now. How the mighty have fallen. They are losing all their land leases at the end of the year, sold off a bunch of their cattle (and lost their butts on the sale, heheheh!). They are almost penniless. Cheryl is trying to sell a property right now the Robert put up with the Bank of North GA…..

My good friend Russell followed up as well and he emailed me a story from late last month that appeared in the Marietta Daily Journal where Cheryl Moultrie did some venting and attempts to put ye ol’ spin on the events that lead to her husband’s incarceration. The story represented a big wet kiss for the Moultries that few of the locals bought into as evidenced by the reader commentary.  I’ll add that despite the fact her husband was sold out to the feds by disgraced former Mississippi Governor, turned insurance defense lawyer, turned failed Senatorial Candidate Ronnie Musgrove, Cheryl Moultrie takes up for Mississippi’s most famous toe sucker in the process displaying classic denial which in turn most likely explains why our Georgia based readers still hold a great deal of enmity toward them. Jon Gillooly has the story:

Cobb socialite and philanthropist Cheryl Moultrie has had a rough two years.

Her husband, the prominent business leader Robert Moultrie, was hauled off to prison in January after pleading guilty in August 2008 to making an illegal campaign payment to a Mississippi governor.

And if that wasn’t enough, Moultrie’s construction management firm, which at one point employed about 430 people to manage projects valued at more than $700 million, is on the verge of collapse. Continue reading “Moooving right along Slabbed Profiles Beef Plant Prosecution Aftermath: Cheryl Moultrie Speaks Out”