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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Larry Kissell has sponsored the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act in an effort to end insurance company monopolies.

The two-page bill, introduced Tuesday, amends the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act by repealing the blanket antitrust exemption afforded to health insurance companies, whether organized as for profit or nonprofit entities.

"Health insurance companies are the only entities other than Major League Baseball to enjoy an antitrust exemption. This is unacceptable," Kissell said in a press release. "We need to correct this inequity to protect consumers and allow for competition in the marketplace. Competition drives our economy and spurs innovation while ensuring the marketplace is fair for consumers. The antitrust exemption has allowed insurers to fix prices, make agreements not to pay, conspire to underpay doctors and hospitals, and divide the market in a non-competitive way. All of these practices are detrimental to consumers, and to our economy, and it is time for it to stop."

The Health Industry Fair Competition Act is designed to restore competition and transparency to the health insurance market, according to the press release. The bill would allow antitrust agencies such as U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission the authority to investigate any evidence of anti-competitive practices. It makes no changes to state-based system of insurance regulation and taxation.