Dear Attorney General Garland and Chair Khan:
We write today regarding the recently expanded antitrust authorities of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the health insurance industry following the enactment of the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (CHIRA) of 2020.
The CHIRA protects consumers from anticompetitive practices by repealing the McCarran-Ferguson Act’s outdated antitrust exemption for the health insurance industry. Decades of consolidation by health insurance brokers has primed the industry for abuse, allowing insurers to exert market power in order to raise premiums, restrict competition, and deny consumers choice.
[1] Despite the clearly anticompetitive nature of these practices, before the CHIRA was enacted, regulators lacked the power to stop insurers’ misconduct due to the industry’s antitrust exemption. For example, as recently as last December, a U.S. District Court dismissed antitrust claims against the Blue Cro
Fri, 01/15/2021 - 10:38am tim
Vermont Business Magazine Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued the following statements regarding President-Elect Biden’s plan to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis.
Senator Sanders said:
“President-Elect Biden has put forth a very strong first installment of an emergency relief plan that will begin to provide desperately needed assistance to tens of millions of working families facing economic hardship during the pandemic. The president-elect’s COVID-relief plan includes many initiatives that the American people want and need, including increasing the $600 direct payments to $2,000, and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. As the incoming Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, I look forward to working with the president-elect and my colleagues in Congress to provide bold emergency relief to the American people as soon as possible.”