The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday voted to stop shielding health insurance corporations from investigations into possible price-fixing crimes. Since 1945, the insurance companies have been protected by the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which blocked the federal government from regulating the insurance market. As the NYT explains, “critics of the law say that 64 years after its passage, the result has been regional monopolies that inflate premiums and discriminate against people based on their health status, gender and other factors.”