A coalition of some 50 business organizations, employers, insurers and health care plans, has opened a campaign to defeat a House bill that would grant health care professionals an exemption to the antitrust laws to engage in collective bargaining.
Although Congress did not return until Jan. 27 for the President's State of the Union address, the Antitrust Coalition for Consumer Choice in Health Care launched a preemptive strike at a press conference against H.R. 1304, a bill introduced by Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Calif.
The Campbell bill, the Quality Health-Care Coalition Act of 1999, is pending before the House Judiciary Committee. It has some 170 co-sponsors. Rep. Campbell has said Speaker Dennis Hastert promised the bill would go to the floor for a vote early in the session if the committee approves the measure.
Panelists opposing the bill included: Arthur N. Lerner, formerly of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition, now a principal with the Washington law firm, Michaels, Wishner and Bonner; Edward L. Wristen, executive vice president and COO of the First Health Group; and Ann Cato, senior corporate counsel, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Rogers, Ark.
'The purpose of antitrust laws is to promote competition,' said Mr. Lerner. He cited examples of violations, such as conspiracy to fix prices and monopolistic practices, noting the law 'treats harshly cartel behavior.'
Mr. Wristen, who negotiates contracts with managed care plans, said competition is a factor in negotiating such contracts. There has been 'a significant diminution of providers' with hospital mergers and the formation of integrated delivery systems, he said.
'With the threat of less competition, prices go up,' he warned, predicting less information for consumers from hospitals and providers, fewer health care choices and less innovation if the bill became law.
Ms. Cato warned that if the antitrust bill were enacted, private health insurance premiums for Wal-Mart's 660,000 sales associates and their families would increase from 5.8 percent to 11 percent. She said 40 percent of Wal-Mart's associates did not have health insurance before going to work there.
'Wal- Mart's low-price concept can be carried over to health insurance,' she said, noting its health plan is fee-for-service without gatekeepers.
The Justice Department opposed the bill in testimony by Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Joel Klein at a House Judiciary Committee hearing last June (see NU, June 28).
Coalition members include: Aetna-U.S. Healthcare, American Association of Health Plans, Association of Private, Pension and Welfare Plans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Cigna, ERISA Industry Committee, Health Insurance Association of America, National Association of Health Underwriters and United Health Care.
