Leahy wants law to apply to insurers
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The Associated Press
The Associated Press - Published: December 6, 2009
MONTPELIER — Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy wants to amend the Senate's health care reform bill to make health and medical malpractice insurers subject to federal antitrust laws.
Health insurers have been exempt from antitrust laws designed to protect consumers and encourage competition for more than 60 years, but Leahy has proposed repealing the exemption.
His proposal is similar to a provision in the House-passed health care bill that would ban insurers from fixing prices and dividing up the market to avoid competition.
Insurers say they don't engage in such practices and that they're already heavily regulated. Leahy told The Burlington Free Press that the measure is necessary to foster competition in an industry that often raises premiums well above the cost of living.
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