The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (The Big “I”) voiced its opposition this week to a bill advanced by the House that would repeal the limited antitrust exemption for health insurers established by the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
The group said passage of the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 372) could have further consequences for the industry.
“Passage of H.R. 372 could lead to a slippery slope for non-health lines of insurance such as property and casualty insurance, and life insurance,” Robert Rusbuldt, Big “I” president and CEO, said. “H.R. 372 seeks to repeal the limited antitrust exemption for health insurers, but there’s an inherent problem with the bill because if the exemption is rolled back for one line of insurance, why not others?”
The McCarran-Ferguson Act allows state regulated insurance companies to hold a limited exemption from federal antitrust laws. The Big “I” said a main benefit of the exemption is that it allows insurers to share information on insurance losses so that the industry can better project future losses and charge actuarially based prices for their products.
The group explained that the ability to pool data increased market competition by giving small insurers access to large data sets needed to appropriately rate insurance products.
“The Big ‘I’ strongly supports state insurance regulation and the limited antitrust exemption for the insurance industry under the McCarran-Ferguson Act,” Charles Symington, Big “I” senior vice president for external and government affairs, said. “The exemption is vital to the competitiveness of state property and casualty insurance markets, and the Big ‘I’ will continue to be vigilant in reminding Congress of this key point.”