McCarran-Ferguson Repeal Moved to House Floor

Legislators limited the amendment to health insurance by specifically citing the definition of health insurance in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the I.R.S. Code.

To further insulate other forms of insurance, three other provisions were added to the amendment.

One would exempt life insurance and annuities products from the scope of the amendment; the second would exempt property or casualty insurance, “including but not limited to, automobile, medical malpractice or workers’ compensation insurance; and a third provision would exempt any “insurance or benefits defined as ‘excepted benefits,’ from the scope of the amendment, whether offered separately or in combination with life insurance and annuities products.”

The purpose of the bill to which the amendment is attached is to repeal a provision of the healthcare law that created the Independent Payment Advisory Board.

But legislation imposing federal standards on medical-malpractice lawsuits was added as a so-called “pay-for” for the bill.

Industry officials were not available to comment at press time.