The latest version of the House Democrats’ health care legislation would repeal the insurance industry’s limited antitrust exemption. This has nothing to do with health care or insurance; it’s simply a welfare giveaway to the antitrust bar.
Giving the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the state attorneys general, and civil lawyers the power to launch unrestricted “price fixing” and related antitrust investigations of insurance companies will divert millions in capital from providing services to line the pockets of all the aforementioned lawyers. This already takes place with regard to healthcare providers. As I’ve documented — again and again and again and again and again and again and again — insurers have colluded with the antitrust community for years to impose price controls on physicians and hospitals under the pretext of “protecting competition.” Subjecting insurers to “equal treatment” merely allows the antitrust bar to start collecting at the other end of the spectrum.
But if you still think revoking the insurance antitrust exemption is good policy, ask yourself this: Why not simply expand the exemption to physicians and hospitals, thus leveling the playing field without further injecting antitrust lawyers into healthcare decision-making. There has been such a bill floating around the House for years — currently sponsored by Ron Paul — but neither the Democratic nor the Republican leadership has shown any serious interest.
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