WASHINGTON – As health insurance premiums continue to skyrocket, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today joined her colleagues in the House of Representatives to introduce legislation eliminating a federal antitrust exemption for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies. The Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act would repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act exemption from certain antitrust violations, including price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocations. 

“As health insurance premiums continue to go through the roof, now is the time to ensure that health insurance companies are not engaging in anti-competitive behavior that make it more difficult for Americans to get health coverage,” said U.S. Rep. DeGette. “Families across our nation – including those in Colorado – are feeling the pinch in their budgets from having to keep up with rising insurance rates. This bill takes an important step towards making sure our health insurance industry is competitive and is providing consumers with affordable health insurance.  Simply put, the bottom lines of the big insurance companies should not be put above the American public’s ability to gain access to health care.”

The key provisions of the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act will repeal the federal antitrust exemption for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies for flagrant antitrust violations, including price-fixing, bid rigging, and market allocations, and subject health insurers and medical malpractice insurers to the same good-competition laws that apply to virtually every other company doing business in the United States. In Colorado, health insurance premiums have skyrocketed for working families, increasing 75 percent from 2000 to 2007. Furthermore, one insurance company alone controls 76 percent of the market in Pueblo, Colorado.

Along with U.S. Rep. DeGette, the measure is sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the bill’s Senate counterpart also today.