House
Antitrust Waiver Legislation Will Hurt Consumers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Joseph Luchok
June 27, 2000
(202) 824-1786
e-mail: mailto:rcoorsh@hiaa.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to
vote this week on a bill granting antitrust waivers to doctors and other
health care providers, giving them unprecedented legal authority to demand
higher fees. Passage of this bill, which will not improve health care
quality, could raise consumers’ health insurance premiums up to 13 percent
a year and drive up the number of uninsured by at least 2.6 million,
according to a report by the Health Insurance Association of America
(HIAA).
Released in March of 2000, the report, "Antitrust Waivers for
Physicians: Costs and Consequences," was authored by Charles River
Associates Inc. It notes that the legislation – "The Quality Health-Care
Coalition Act" (H.R. 1304) – would raise the nation’s health care tab by
up to $95 billion a year.
"The American public should be outraged by the tremendous cost
increases this bill will produce in both public and private health care
programs," remarked HIAA senior vice president and general counsel Dean
Rosen. "Giving physicians this waiver will not improve patient care. It
will simply increase physician fees, leading to higher costs for consumers
and employers."
Although the bill attempts to shield Medicare and Medicaid, the
HIAA-released analysis shows that the costs of these programs would
dramatically increase under this bill. Even assuming the lower estimates
by the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of covering low income
Americans would increase by more than $2.4 billion over 10 years. If these
funds were spent to provide health coverage to children instead of going
toward increased physician fees, we could insure 140,000 more poor
children each year, according to an HIAA analysis. Pointing to the
dramatic increase in health insurance premiums that would result from the
legislation, Rosen urged the Congress to reject this anti-consumer bill.
The Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) is the nation’s most
prominent trade association representing the private health care system.
Its 294 members provide health, long-term care, dental, disability, and
supplemental coverage to more than 123 million Americans. It is the
nation's premier provider of self-study courses on health insurance and
managed care.
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PLEASE NOTE: The report referenced above is available via a
link at http://www.hiaa.org/news/news-state/mediakitantitrust.htm
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