The House successfully voted to repeal the insurance cartel's anti-trust exemption.
The vote was 406-19 to repeal the exemption, which has been in place since the end of World War II. The 19 who voted against the repeal are all Republicans.
Liberal Democrats have said a repeal would help inject new competition into the health care industry while reducing consumer costs.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday that President Barack Obama strongly supports the repeal. "At its core, health reform is all about ensuring that American families and businesses have more choices, benefit from more competition and have greater control over their own health care," Gibbs said.
With healthcare reform on the table and slogging through towards passage, moves like this become increasingly acceptable to Congress.