Antitrust/Insurance: Senate Bill Would Grant FTC Oversight Over Insurance Issuers

On August 2, Senator Mark L. Pryor (D-AR) introduced S. 3685, the Insurance Competition and Transparency Act of 2010. In brief, the bill would authorize the Federal Trade Commission, notwithstanding the provisions of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, to use the authority described in section 6 of the Federal Trade Commission Act "to conduct studies, prepare reports, and disclose information relating to insurance, without regard to whether the subject of the study, report, or the information is for-profit or not-for-profit." The bill was referred the same day to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.