Intellectual Property Law

Repealing antitrust exemption for health insurers

By Susan Crawford

Did you see this AP article from Wednesday?

It’s great news.  The Obama administration is signaling that it supports ending the antitrust exemption enjoyed by health insurers.  (Here’s a NYT blog post explaining the issue.)

Right now, only health insurance companies and Major League Baseball are protected from federal antitrust enforcement.  There’s been enormous consolidation in the health insurance industry, costs are surging four times faster than wages (more than doubling in the last nine years), and 94% of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated.

So why protect these players from federal laws prohibiting collusion, bid-rigging, and market allocation?  It’s hard to come up with any sensible reason to keep this exemption in place.  Some key Senators think so too.

Full post as published by Susan Crawford Blog on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).