Late Saturday night, the House of Representatives passed the Health Care Bill. The issue now goes to the Senate. The focus of the effort, in my view, needs to remain on reining in the health insurance companies. The only question that needs to be asked is what impact any bill will have on the families of South Carolina.

What we need is stable, affordable coverage that can't be dropped when you get sick. We need to eliminate the preexisitng condition issue because  it keeps families from moving to better jobs, or starting their own business. 

We need to end the antitrust exemption to require real competition. In SC, only 5 companies comprise 60% of the entire market (BCBS, United, AFLAC, CIGNA, and METLIFE), with the top 2 accounting for 52% (BCBS and United). In contrast, the top 11 auto insurers account for the same 60% of the market and the top 2 only account for about 28%. Real competiton by removing the antitrust exemption will lower prices.   

Finally, we need to end their special treament under law that gives them blanket immunity for coverage decisions even when people die because the coverage was denied.

That's wrong. And it needs to change.