Antitrust exemption: are health providers crying wolf?

Demands by health providers for relief from federal antitrust law have reached a new high as they examine the likely impact of managed competition on the way they do business. Indeed, the American Medical Association endorsed managed competition on the condition that doctors get an antitrust exemption; the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association recently said that drug makers needed to discuss prices before they could hold back increases. But the Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency, has shown no signs of revising its antitrust measures to reflect the enormous changes that lie before the health industry.