Conyers Applauds Bipartisan Passage of Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) today applauded the strong, bipartisan vote to report H.R. 3596, The Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009.

"Today’s vote is an important step forward toward opening up health and medical malpractice insurance markets to real competition," said Conyers. "Joined by three of my Republican colleagues, the House Judiciary Committee agreed to bring antitrust enforcement to the two most abusive practices of the health insurance industry - price fixing and market allocation. Although state regulation of this industry is crucial – and is preserved in this bill – it has proved insufficient to prevent these particularly abusive practices. No one on this committee believes that price fixing or carving up markets is a good thing, and the wide, bipartisan support for this bill’s passage reflects this. This measure fixes a mistake sitting on the federal statutes for over sixty years, making an important contribution to the health reform efforts underway in both houses of Congress."

H.R. 3596, The Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 passed by recorded vote with a bipartisan margin of 20-9.