Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Proposal to End Antitrust Immunity for Health, Medical Malpractice Insurers Introduced in Congress, (Jan 10, 2013)

By Jeffrey May, J.D.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress that would eliminate the antitrust immunity provided under the McCarran-Ferguson Act for price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocation by health insurance issuers or medical malpractice insurers. The proposed “Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2013” (H.R. 99) was introduced by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (Michigan) on the first day of the 113th Congress.

Rep. Conyers, Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the measure in the last Congress as well. At that time he said that the legislation “would level the playing field between health care professionals and insurance companies in the health care industry and improve the quality of patient care.”

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.

News: Antitrust