McCarran Repeal Legislation Passes In The House

In late March, legislation that would repeal the health insurance industry's antitrust exemption, contained in the McCarran-Ferguson Act (15 USC §§1011 et seq.), was passed by the House of Representatives as an amendment to H.R. 5, the "Protecting Access to Health Care Act." The text of the McCarran repeal provisions (Title IV of H.R. 5) mirror those introduced last year by Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona as a stand-alone bill McCarran repeal bill (H.R. 1150). That legislation, however, had made little progress since its introduction. Accordingly, Representative Gosar, recognizing that HR 5, a Republican-sponsored bill that would abolish the Independent Payment Advisory Board (an entity created by the Affordable Care Act to advise on Medicare rates) and cap punitive damages in medical malpractice cases, was moving swiftly towards a vote in the House, introduced his bill as an amendment to H.R. 5. His strategy proved successful when the House subsequently