ADA News reports that on Dec. 22, the Senate voted to repeal the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for health insurance companies by passing HR 1418, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act.

The House passed the bill on Sept. 21. President Donald J. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law later this week.

The ADA has been a “longtime advocate of this bill that would reform the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 to ensure that health insurance companies are subject to the same federal antitrust laws that nearly all other industries must comply with in the U.S.,” the Association wrote in an email to dental leaders.

In the email, the ADA also praised Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for leading the bill in the Senate.

“Our bipartisan bill will allow for greater transparency and oversight into the health insurance industry and help make health insurance more affordable [for Americans] across the country. I look forward to this commonsense bill being signed into law,” said Sen. Daines in a news release.

According to the release, the bill “amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to restore the application of federal antitrust laws to the health insurance industry, but does not otherwise interfere with or impact the authority of state authorities to regulate health insurance provided under the act.”

“This bill will help address instances of artificially higher premiums, unfair insurance restrictions, and harmful policy exclusions,” the release concluded.

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