House passes bill to increase health care competition

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued this statement following House passage of the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 372) by a vote of 416-7:

“Hardworking Americans are hurting because of the failures of Obamacare. Since Obamacare was signed into law seven years ago this week, the health care marketplace has been collapsing and consolidating because of this poorly designed law. As a result, Americans are left with fewer affordable health care options in their states and skyrocketing premiums.

“The American people are asking Congress to fix the mistakes of Obamacare, and create real reforms to stop the rising costs of health care. The repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for the health insurance industry is a vital step in the larger goal of restoring competition to the health care industry.

“We must still repeal and replace Obamacare, but reforms like the repeal of McCarran-Ferguson are also important elements to creating a health care system that is affordable and available to all Americans in the long term.”

Background: In 1945, Congress passed the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts the business of insurance from federal antitrust regulation. The Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act would repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act’s federal antitrust exemption for health insurance. The McCarran-Ferguson Act would remain in effect for other types of insurance, thus maintaining a narrowly tailored federal antitrust exemption for certain practices relating to the provision of those types of services.