Seven decades of antitrust immunity for the health insurance industry has just ended. That startling but not unexpected action should prompt insurers, health care providers and.
ACA Applauds Signing of Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act
Newswise Arlington, Va. – The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) applauds Congress for passing legislation that will promote fair competition in health insurance markets with the removal of a 75-year-old exemption that allowed these companies to avoid federal antitrust laws. The Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (H.R. 1418) passed the House of Representatives and the Senate last year and was signed into law on Jan. 13.
“The American Chiropractic Association advocated for this important change for many years. The passage of this bill is an essential step toward increasing competition in health insurance markets and lowering prices for consumers,” said ACA President Robert C. Jones, DC.
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Friday, January 8, 2021
The United States House of Representatives and Senate recently passed the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (CHIRA) that, among other things, amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to repeal the federal antitrust exemption only for health and dental insurance companies. CHIRA is expected to be signed into law by President Trump in the coming days, at which point certain collaborative practices by health and dental insurance companies that had previously been exempt from antitrust scrutiny may expose these companies to new antitrust risks.
The “Business of Insurance” Exemption
Prior to CHIRA, the McCarran-Ferguson Act exempted the “business of insurance” from federal antitrust law scrutiny if the challenged practice was otherwise subject to state regulation and did not amount to an “act of boycott, coercion, or intimidation.” 15 U.S.C. §§ 1012(b); 1013(b). While the “business of insurance” conceivably could encompass all actions t
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On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the
Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (CHIRA), previously passed
by the House on September 21. If signed by the president, CHIRA
would repeal health insurers federal antitrust immunity under
the McCarran-Ferguson Act for state regulated activity that
constitutes the business of insurance. CHIRA preserves some
protections for compiling historical loss data, determining loss
development factors, and performing certain actuarial services, as
well as for developing standard insurance policy forms.
The McCarran-Ferguson Act was enacted in 1945 and gives states