Congressman Kevin Brady Continues to Embarrass

Yet again, our member of Congress from Montgomery County has continued to be an embarrassment to his constituents, and demonstrated that he's sticking to the principle of carrying water for large corporate interests. Earlier today the House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming 406-19 margin to end the special exemption that health insurance companies have from the federal anti-trust laws. One would think that an advocate of market solutions to problems would endorse the idea of giving the consumers more choice in markets. After all, health insurance is the only major industry aside from major league baseball where this sort of market rigging is allowed. (Not that the 'insurance market' really fits the standard economics model for a market in that it plagued with the problem of adverse selection.) Mr. Brady is the former head of the local chamber of commerce and has championed such 'free market' proposals as the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Every Democrat voted in favor along with 153 Republicans, but Brady was one of 19 Republicans who took the position that the federal government should come down on the side of allowing the companies to keep their special privileges. Shame on Congressman Brady for yet again showing how out of touch with the concerns of people struggling to find affordable health insurance coverage for members of their family. Perhaps his values are actually more like those of the national Chamber of Commerce, which typically peddles whatever position its highest paying benefactors want.