DeGette Commends Passage of Legislation to Increase Health Insurance Competition

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, praised today's passage of the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act (H.R. 4626). This legislation would repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act exemption from U.S. antitrust laws and subject health insurers to the same good-competition laws that apply to virtually every other company doing business in the United States. Rep. DeGette was an original cosponsor of similar legislation approved by the House Judiciary Committee. She also worked to secure similar provisions in the health insurance reform passed on November 7 by a vote of 220-215..

"Competition is a value that has been unwelcome in the health insurance industry. As health insurance premiums continue to skyrocket across the country, we can no longer tolerate the exemption of health insurers from our antitrust laws," said DeGette. "I have worked closely with my colleagues to pass this legislation to ensure that places like Pueblo, Colorado, where over 75 percent of the market is controlled by one insurance company, can have more choices in the future. This bill will give the federal government the tools it needs to inject competition into the health insurance market, and I am pleased to see this important legislation move forward."