Inslee Votes For Legislation To Help Bring Competition To Health Insurance Market
Congressional Desk
March 07, 2010
House Legislation to end anti-trust exemption for health insurance companies is a step to providing greater competition and therefore lower costs to families
(Washington, D.C.) - Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01) joined four hundred and six of his House colleagues in passage of H.R. 4626, legislation which removes the anti-trust exemption enjoyed by health insurance companies under the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. Under the legislation, health insurers will no longer be shielded from legal accountability for: price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves, sabotaging their competitors in order to gain monopoly power, and other such anti-competitive practices.
"This is a common sense step to ensure families have access to affordable quality health care insurance," said Inslee. "We know that competition has the power to lower costs and improve quality through more consumer choice."
For 65 years, the health insurance industry has been legally exempt from anti-trust laws, and the federal government was banned from even investigating evidence of possible collusion. In the last 14 years alone, there have been 400 mergers among health insurers and now 94% of all insurance markets are "highly concentrated" – meaning consumers have little or no choice between insurance providers.
"This isn´t the solution to our health care crisis, still far more needs to be done," Inslee explained. "We still need to address the spending inequities states like Washington face, bend the cost curve of medical spending to reward quality instead of quantity of care, and provide consumers even more choice with a strong public option."
The legislation is supported by numerous groups including the American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Center for Justice and Democracy, and U.S. PIRG.
(Washington, D.C.) - Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01) joined four hundred and six of his House colleagues in passage of H.R. 4626, legislation which removes the anti-trust exemption enjoyed by health insurance companies under the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. Under the legislation, health insurers will no longer be shielded from legal accountability for: price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves, sabotaging their competitors in order to gain monopoly power, and other such anti-competitive practices.
"This is a common sense step to ensure families have access to affordable quality health care insurance," said Inslee. "We know that competition has the power to lower costs and improve quality through more consumer choice."
For 65 years, the health insurance industry has been legally exempt from anti-trust laws, and the federal government was banned from even investigating evidence of possible collusion. In the last 14 years alone, there have been 400 mergers among health insurers and now 94% of all insurance markets are "highly concentrated" – meaning consumers have little or no choice between insurance providers.
"This isn´t the solution to our health care crisis, still far more needs to be done," Inslee explained. "We still need to address the spending inequities states like Washington face, bend the cost curve of medical spending to reward quality instead of quantity of care, and provide consumers even more choice with a strong public option."
The legislation is supported by numerous groups including the American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Center for Justice and Democracy, and U.S. PIRG.
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