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Antitrust Exemption Not Part of US Health Reforms
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| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Mar 27, 2010 04:26pm |
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| Category | General |
| News Date | Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The effort to strip antitrust exemption from health insurers
was not included in the final health care reform legislation, as it had been in the original reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. Even though it may not have been part of the massive reform package, this proposed reversal of part of the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act is still pending as a stand-alone bill in the Senate.
"We appreciate that Congress recognized repealing McCarran-Ferguson would not provide any benefits to the consumer or the insurance marketplace," said David A. Sampson, president and chief executive officer of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, in a statement.
Though Sampson is interpreting this development as a retreat by lawmakers who support the removal, it's unclear that members of Congress see it that way. A brief stand-alone bill that would take away the exemption from health insurers already passed the House (BestWire, Feb. 24, 2010). A spokeswoman for Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who authored a similar bill in the Senate, told BestWire he hasn't backed down from an attempt to pass this legislation on the Senate side, after which President Barack Obama could sign it into law. And a spokeswoman for one of the House bill's sponsors, Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Va., said he has been "encouraged" by the efforts of Leahy and other proponents in the Senate. |
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