Health Insurers Antitrust Exemption
This from NPR:
In the ongoing health care overhaul drama, the Obama administration and the health insurance industry have gone from uneasy allies to bitter adversaries.
One result is that health insurers stand to lose a privilege their industry has enjoyed for the past 64 years: They, like Major League Baseball, have been exempt from federal antitrust laws. Congressional Democrats are now pushing to strip the health insurance industry of that exemption.
Things turned ugly earlier this month after the health insurance industry rejected the health care makeover it once supported. President Obama dedicated his most recent weekly address almost entirely to blasting those insurers; he accused them of skimming big profits off ever-escalating premiums.
"They're earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exception from our antitrust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing," the president said.
I teach insurance law. I consider myself very knowledgeable about most issues pertaining to insurance law. I have no idea why I'm admitting this but I had no idea that health insurers had a federal antitrust law exemption. Did you know this? I don't know how I didn't. It is like Derek Jeter not knowing he can run on a third strike when the catcher drops the ball. Okay. Not really. But you get the idea.
