Description: CR letter to House and Senate Judiciary Committees making three recommendations to help ensure that antitrust enforcement can continue protecting consumers and our economy during the COVID-19 emergency, and during its aftermath, as the economy is recovering.
The first two recommendations enable antitrust enforcers to focus on the possible wave of business acquisitions made necessary by companies that go bankrupt in the severe economic disruption, so their business assets can be preserved in the economy going forward. We propose to give the antitrust enforcers authority to delay business mergers and acquisitions during this period when they are not necessary, so enforcers can to their job in making sure that the mergers and acquisitions that truly are necessary can get careful review as the law requires, to make sure they do not create harm to competition when that can be avoided.
The third recommendation is to remove the statutory antitrust exemption for health insurers. CR has long worked to remove this exemption, and legislation to remove it has passed the House by a near-unanimous bipartisan vote. Removing it now is particularly important, so health insurers can play their proper role in helping get any COVID-19 treatment or vaccine efficiently distributed to all who need it.