[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 617 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 617

    To restore the application of the Federal antitrust laws to the 
   business of health insurance to protect competition and consumers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 24, 2017

Mr. DeFazio (for himself, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Meeks, Mr. 
 Conyers, Mr. Grijalva, and Ms. Shea-Porter) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To restore the application of the Federal antitrust laws to the 
   business of health insurance to protect competition and consumers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Health Insurance Industry Fair 
Competition Act''.

SEC. 2. RESTORING THE APPLICATION OF ANTITRUST LAWS TO HEALTH SECTOR 
              INSURERS.

    (a) Amendment to McCarran-Ferguson Act.--Section 3 of the Act of 
March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C. 1013), commonly known as the McCarran-Ferguson 
Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c)(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall modify, impair, or 
supersede the operation of any of the antitrust laws with respect to 
the business of health insurance.
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to making a 
contract, or engaging in a combination or conspiracy--
            ``(A) to collect, compile, or disseminate historical loss 
        data;
            ``(B) to determine a loss development factor applicable to 
        historical loss data; or
            ``(C) to perform actuarial services if such contract, 
        combination, or conspiracy does not involve a restraint of 
        trade.
    ``(3) For purposes of this subsection--
            ``(A) the term `antitrust laws' has the meaning given it in 
        subsection (a) of the 1st section of the Clayton Act, except 
        that such term includes section 5 of the Federal Trade 
        Commission Act to the extent that such section 5 applies to 
        unfair methods of competition;
            ``(B) the term `historical loss data' means information 
        respecting claims paid, or reserves held for claims reported, 
        by any person engaged in the business of insurance; and
            ``(C) the term `loss development factor' means an 
        adjustment to be made to reserves held for losses incurred for 
        claims reported by any person engaged in the business of 
        insurance, for the purpose of bringing such reserves to an 
        ultimate paid basis.''.
    (b) Related Provision.--For purposes of section 5 of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent such section applies 
to unfair methods of competition, section 3(c) of the McCarran-Ferguson 
Act shall apply with respect to the business of health insurance 
without regard to whether such business is carried on for profit, 
notwithstanding the definition of ``Corporation'' contained in section 
4 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
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