Congress' Self-Inflicted Sisyphean Task: The Insurance Industry's Federal Antitrust Exception and the Insurance Industry Competition Acts of 2007 and 2009
![handle is hein.journals/conilj16 and id is 403 raw text is: CONGRESS' SELF-INFLICTED SISYPHEAN TASK:
THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY'S FEDERAL ANTITRUST
EXEMPTION AND THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY
COMPETITION ACTS OF 2007 AND 2009
Anthony J. Altt*
INTRODUCTION
[T]he law of insurance antitrust is not a subject for the faint of
heart.'
~Robert H. Jerry, II
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many people had ideas on
how to lessen the impact of any such future catastrophe. One of those ideas
concerned the insurance industry. Some people interpreted various actions
of major insurance companies as attempts to avoid paying property-owner
damage claims caused by Hurricane Katrina.2 The simultaneous record-
breaking profits of property-casualty companies in 20053 made several
Congressmen skeptical of the efficacy of state insurance regulation, and
Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, Ave Maria School of Law. An earlier
version of this Article was selected by Jones Day as the winning article in the 2009
William E. Swope Antitrust Writing Competition. This version has been modified
to reflect the pending legislation of the Insurance Industry Competition Act of
2009. I especially thank Richard Myers for his feedback and example of
dedication, and Nell O'Leary Alt for her timeliness in asking the question,
Really?
1 Robert H. Jerry, II, The Antitrust Implications of Collaborative Standard
Setting by Insurers Regarding the Use of Genetic Information in Life Insurance
Underwriting, 9 CONN. INS. L.J. 397, 398 (2002-2003).
2 See, e.g., Rep. Gene Taylor, Federal Insurance Reform After Katrina, 77
Miss. L.J. 783, 783-87 (2008) (describing the efforts of insurance companies to
deny claims caused by wind damage); John K. Warren, Note, Restoring
Responsibility and Accountability in Disaster Relief 31 WM. & MARY ENVTL. L. &
POL'Y REv. 893, 901 (2007) (purporting that some insurance companies delayed
payments in order to force claimants into settling for lesser amounts).
3AMERICANS FOR INSURANCE REFORM, THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY'S
TROUBLING RESPONSE TO KATRINA 18 (2006) (noting that despite the hurricanes
and claims losses, 2005 was the property-casualty industry's third greatest profit
year in history).
4 See, e.g., Taylor, supra note 2, at 789 (stating that the antitrust exemption for
the insurance industry should be repealed).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/conilj16&div=16&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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