In a display of Congressional power that would have pleased Joe McCarthy, Democrats Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak – representing the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight – have demanded internal documents about salaries and expenses from insurance companies.

As Politico reports:

By Sept. 4, the firms are supposed to supply detailed compensation data for board members and top executives, as well as a “table listing all conferences, retreats, or other events held outside company facilities from January 1, 2007, to the present that were paid for, reimbursed, or subsidized in whole or in part by your company.”

For employees or officers making $500,000 or more, the committee wants information on salary, bonus, options and pension. And by Sept. 14, the firms are supposed to provide copies of reports from compensation consultants, plus board drafts of compensation plans, and information about market share.

This is proprietary information about the way private companies do business. The government has no right to it. This is simply another tactic in Democrats’ war on insurers.

The clear purpose is to paint insurance companies as profligate profit-makers more interested in rewarding executives than serving the insured. Notice the chairmen didn’t ask for information about the billions of dollars spent on patient care. This is bald political payback.

I can only imagine the outcry if Republicans had used their legislative authority to seek information about private sector entities friendly with Democrats. (Of course, few private sector entities are friendly with Democrats.)

An interesting side note is that the letter from Waxman and Stupak went to executives at 52 private insurance companies – 52! What was Kathleen Sebelius saying about choice and competition?

In any event, this is a gross (in every sense of the word) abuse of power by the Dems. I hope a few insurers have the guts to tell them “no” and fight this out in court if necessary.