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November 19, 2009 at 07:00 PM
WASHINGTON BUREAU — Drafters left health insurer antitrust repeal out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bill, but a repeal amendment probably will surface when the bill reaches the Senate floor.
The amendment would repeal the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for health insurers and medical malpractice insurers, an industry official says.
The official believes the amendment will be based on the language in S. 1681, a bill with 16 cosponsors that was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in October.
For now, the PPACA bill does not include a provision that would give the Federal Trade Commission authority to study all lines of insurance, according to Tom Currey, president of the National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors, Falls Church, Va.
Members of the Physician Insurers Association of America, Rockville, Md., are heartened to see that the PPACA bill does not include provisions to set aside McCarran-Ferguson protections for medical liability insurers, says PIAA President Larry Smarr.
