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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1150 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1150

    To restore the application of the Federal antitrust laws to the 
   business of health insurance to protect competition and consumers.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2011

  Mr. Gosar introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To restore the application of the Federal antitrust laws to the 
   business of health insurance to protect competition and consumers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Competitive Health Insurance Reform 
Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Open, free, and fair competition has made the United 
        States the strongest economy in the world.
            (2) As a general proposition, Government should ensure that 
        no industry obtains an unfair competitive advantage and that 
        the playing field is equal. The Congress should not play 
        favorites with certain industries or special interest groups by 
        exempting one group from the general application of the law.
            (3) There is no factual basis supporting any further 
        exemption of the insurance industry from Federal antitrust and 
        unfair competition laws.
            (4) Enforcement of these laws is most appropriately done 
        through the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the case of 
        aggrieved individuals through private actions as set forth in 
        the existing statutes, but that class actions suits based on 
        antitrust theories can themselves pose a hindrance to 
        competition among insurance companies, and to higher prices for 
        consumers, because of the resources they can consume.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that health insurance 
issuers and medical malpractice insurance issuers are subject to the 
same antitrust and unfair trade practices laws that all businesses have 
had to comply with and that these issuers would be subject to Federal 
laws against price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations to the 
detriment of competition and consumers. This Act remedies a special 
exemption provided by Congress in 1945 to respond to the United States 
Supreme Court decision entitled United States v. South-Eastern 
Underwriters Association, wherein the Court correctly held that the 
Federal Government could regulate insurance companies under the 
authority of the commerce clause in the Constitution. This Act would 
also retain enforcement of these laws with State and Federal law 
enforcement agencies and allow private causes of action by aggrieved 
consumers harmed by unfair trade practices, but would prohibit class 
actions based on antitrust legal theories against insurance companies.

SEC. 4. RESTORING THE APPLICATION OF ANTITRUST LAWS TO HEALTH SECTOR 
              INSURERS.

    (a) Amendment to McCarran-Ferguson Act.--Section 3 of the Act of 
March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C. 1013), commonly known as the McCarran-Ferguson 
Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Nothing contained in this Act shall modify, impair, or 
supersede the operation of any of the antitrust laws with respect to 
the business of health insurance. For purposes of the preceding 
sentence, the term `antitrust laws' has the meaning given it in 
subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act, except that 
such term includes section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to the 
extent that such section 5 applies to unfair methods of competition.''.
    (b) Related Provision.--For purposes of section 5 of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent such section applies 
to unfair methods of competition, section 3(c) of the McCarran-Ferguson 
Act shall apply with respect to the business of health insurance 
without regard to whether such business is carried on for profit, 
notwithstanding the definition of ``Corporation'' contained in section 
4 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
    (c) Limitation on Class Actions.--
            (1) Limitation.--No class action may be heard in a Federal 
        or State court on a claim against an insurer for a violation of 
        any of the antitrust laws (as defined in section 3(c) of the 
        Act of March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C. 1013), commonly known as the 
        McCarran-Ferguson Act).
            (2) Exemption.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect 
        to any action commenced--
                    (A) by the United States or any State; or
                    (B) by named individual claimants for their 
                particular injuries.
                                 <all>
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