Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, urged his colleagues Wednesday, October
14, to add an amendment to health care reform legislation that would strip
health insurers of their limited antitrust exemption.
Sen. Schumer, a co-sponsor of the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust
Enforcement Act introduced last month, made his call one day after the Senate
Finance Committee approved a health care reform bill. Insurers enjoy a limited
antitrust exemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
The health insurance industry’s “antitrust exemption is one of the worst
accidents of American history,” Sen. Schumer said in a statement. “It deserves a
lot of the blame for the huge rise in premiums that has made health insurance so
unaffordable. It is time to end this special status and bring true competition
to the health insurance industry.”
Sen. Schumer said the amendment to repeal the limited antitrust exemption
should be attached to health reform legislation when it reaches the Senate floor
later this year.
On a related front, a measure that would end health insurers’ antitrust
exemption was introduced in the House last month.
Filed by Mark A. Hofmann
of Business
Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce
Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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