II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1681 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 17, 2009 Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Schumer, and Mrs. Feinstein) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To ensure that health insurance issuers and medical malpractice insurance issuers cannot engage in price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations to the detriment of competition and consumers.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009.

2.

Purpose

It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that health insurance issuers and medical malpractice insurance issuers cannot engage in price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations to the detriment of competition and consumers.

3.

Prohibition of anti-competitive activities

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing in the Act of March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C. 1011 et seq., commonly known as the McCarran-Ferguson Act), shall be construed to permit health insurance issuers (as defined in section 2791 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–91) or issuers of medical malpractice insurance to engage in any form of price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations in connection with the conduct of the business of providing health insurance coverage (as defined in such section) or coverage for medical malpractice claims or actions.

4.

Application to activities of State commissions of insurance and other state insurance regulatory bodies

Nothing in this Act shall apply to the information gathering and rate setting activities of any State commission of insurance, or any other State regulatory entity with authority to set insurance rates.