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BY SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG

COMMENTARY

The United States Senate is currently debating one of the most important pieces of legislation this country has ever considered. Our health care reform bill has the promise to greatly improve the lives and well-being of New Jerseyans and millions of others across this country.

But an enormous obstacle stands in our way. I refer to the health insurance companies, their lobbyists and friends on the other side of the aisle. They're spending millions on their mission to stop health care reform, maintain the status quo and attack President Obama.

In the richest nation in the world, decent health care should be a basic tenet of life. But that's not the way the health insurance companies look at it. Their single-minded drive for profits is clear from the numbers.

Just as profits have risen, so has CEO compensation. Over the last twenty years, compensation for health insurance company CEOs has grown steadily while workers' pay has barely moved.

The average annual compensation of the top five health insurance company CEOs between 2006 and 2008 was almost $15 million, while the average worker during that same time brought home about $44,000. Right here in New Jersey, William Marino, the CEO of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, made more than $5.4 million last year. And that compensation came from a nonprofit health insurer.

While health insurers and CEOs make out like bandits, the industry continues to increase premiums relentlessly. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently revealed that insurance premiums for families more than doubled since 1999, from less than $6,000 to more than $13,000 a year. This increase is three times the rise in wage increases over the last 10 years.

Health insurance companies are able to raise premiums so easily because of their enormous market share. The American Medical Association reports that 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated. Insurance companies have become larger and more pervasive by pushing out smaller competitors. In our state, according to 2007 data, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna controlled almost 60 percent of the market.

Our health care bill will change these dynamics, and that's exactly why the health insurance industry is working so hard to kill it. The industry's lobbyists and consultants are coordinating a nationwide onslaught of TV commercials and stoking fears of a "government takeover" and "rationing." While the opponents of the bill conjure false images of Big Government, what they don't tell you is what the bill actually does - reforms many of the abusive practices we have seen from the health insurance industry.

For example, people with pre-existing conditions would no longer be discriminated against by insurance companies. Nor would insurance companies be able to discriminate based on gender. The bill also bars insurers from charging exorbitant out-of-pocket costs and makes it illegal for insurance companies to drop your coverage if you get sick.

The bill also will provide people who need insurance with access to a marketplace called "the exchange" that will let them shop for affordable health care plans that best meet their needs. By providing information on each plan's premiums, co-pays and specific benefits, the exchange will force insurance companies to fight for your business.

Medicare will be protected for seniors and its solvency will be extended, making it a stronger program. The bill will cut Medicare waste, fraud and abuse, saving taxpayers millions. For Part D prescription drug beneficiaries, the bill will knock down part of the coverage gap known as the "Donut Hole." And what many people don't realize is that this bill will actually reduce the federal budget deficit by $130 billion over ten years and add years of solvency to Medicare.

Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, is in his fifth term as a U.S. senator from New Jersey (1982-2001, 2003 to present).

This column was originally printed in the Star Ledger on December 14, 2009.

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