HCAN Commends Senator Leahy’s Work To Break Up Health Insurance Industry Monopolies
Senator Introduces Legislation to Repeal Antitrust Exemption and Force Companies to Compete
Washington, DC – Today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced legislation that would eliminate a 64-year-old exemption to antitrust laws for health and medical malpractice insurance companies. The Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 would revoke the exemption created by the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act and subject insurers to the same antitrust regulation as other industries. Eliminating the exemption would stop insurance companies from being able to get away with price fixing, bid rigging, and conspiring to control market shares – all of which harm the public.
"We applaud Senator Leahy's action in trying to eliminate this outdated antitrust exemption which has allowed substantial anticompetitive conduct in health insurance markets," said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now (HCAN). "As our recent study showed, 94% of health insurance markets are considered highly-concentrated by American Medical Association standards. That means one or two companies dominate each market, and consumers end up being forced to pay more for less.”
- See the May 2009 Health Care for America Now (HCAN) report online here.
- Report: Private Insurance Mergers Lead to Near-Monopolies Across the Country (pdf)
"To make matters worse these insurance companies live in a competition free zone because the McCarran Ferguson Act permits them to engage in price fixing and information collection that would be illegal in any other market." said David Balto, former FTC Policy Director. "Eliminating this outdated exemption and opening these markets to competition is long overdue."
- Senator Leahy’s press release is online here.
- Text of the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 is online here.
