Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Another Proposal to Eliminate Health Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption Introduced in House, (Jan 31, 2013)

By E. Darius Sturmer, J.D.

Legislation has again been introduced in Congress aimed at eliminating the antitrust immunity provided under the McCarran-Ferguson Act for conduct undertaken with respect to the business of insurance by health insurance issuers or medical malpractice insurers. The proposed “Competitive Health Insurance Act” (H.R. 344) was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (Massachusetts) on January 22.

Legislative efforts to end the decades-old antitrust exemption as it applies to health insurers and/or medical malpractice insurers have repeatedly failed to pass both houses of Congress in past sessions. A similar—though not identical—measure introduced earlier this month, the “Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2013” (H.R. 99), currently sits before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law.

News: Antitrust