Claiming that health insurers are uniquely exempt from antitrust laws is misleading in more than one way. In fact, federal law ensures that state antitrust and other consumer-protection laws dominate the field of insurance regulation. And this goes for all lines of insurance, not just health insurance.
The law that limits the federal government from pre-empting state antitrust laws is the McCarran-Ferguson Act (15 U.S.C. § § 1011-1015), which Congress passed soon after a surprising decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944. The decision overturned precedent and determined that insurance was interstate commerce. McCarran-Ferguson immediately restored insurance to state regulation, as it had always been.
Furthermore, market concentration in health insurance is not significantly different than it is in other lines of insurance, as I demonstrate in a recently published article. Nor have states failed to regulate health insurers. States enthusiastically regulate even over regulate all aspects of insurance. A federal intrusion into insurance regulation would be redundant, adding another layer of bureaucracy to an already heavily regulated activity.
John R. Graham is director of Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
02/16 05:09 PM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Congress Should Not Pre-Empt State Antitrust Regulation of Health Insurance
John R. Graham
Claiming that health insurers are uniquely exempt from antitrust laws is misleading in more than one way. In fact, federal law ensures that state antitrust and other consumer-protection laws dominate the field of insurance regulation. And this goes for all lines of insurance, not just health insurance.
The law that limits the federal government from pre-empting state antitrust laws is the McCarran-Ferguson Act (15 U.S.C. § § 1011-1015), which Congress passed soon after a surprising decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944. The decision overturned precedent and determined that insurance was interstate commerce. McCarran-Ferguson immediately restored insurance to state regulation, as it had always been.
Furthermore, market concentration in health insurance is not significantly different than it is in other lines of insurance, as I demonstrate in a recently published article. Nor have states failed to regulate health insurers. States enthusiastically regulate even over regulate all aspects of insurance. A federal intrusion into insurance regulation would be redundant, adding another layer of bureaucracy to an already heavily regulated activity.
John R. Graham is director of Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
02/16 05:09 PM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.