Leahy Leads a Repeal Effort

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and 18 other senators sent a letter to President Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders on Wednesday urging them to repeal the limited exemption for insurers from federal antitrust laws in the final version of major health care legislation.

Mr. Leahy had put forward a proposal to repeal the antitrust exemption, which was approved by Congress in 1945. But the proposal was dropped from the Senate version of the health care bill because of opposition from Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska. Mr. Nelson is a former state insurance commissioner and insurance company executive.

Mr. Nelson said the exemption was needed to foster competition among insurers, a position that Mr. Leahy and others said they found dubious.

''There is simply no reason for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies to be exempt from federal laws prohibiting price fixing, bid rigging and market allocation,'' the senators wrote in their letter. ''These acts hurt consumers, drive up health care costs and should be prohibited in the health insurance industry, as they are in virtually every other industry.''

DAVID M. HERSZENHORN