House and Senate Democrats have introduced bills that would eliminate a federal antitrust exemption for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies.
The legislation targets the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, which generally established that regulation of “the business of insurance” is a state matter and that federal antitrust laws apply only to the extent that the activity isn't subject to state regulation.
The Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), stipulate that nothing in that 64-year-old law should be construed to allow health insurers or medical malpractice insurers to “engage in any form of price fixing, bid rigging or market allocations.”
Providers have long complained that the health insurance industry has undergone massive consolidation and engaged in widespread anti-competitve conduct with little or no antitrust scrutiny, and similar legislation has been introduced several times in previous sessions of Congress.
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