Justice Department Poised To Block Cigna-Anthem And Aetna-Humana Mergers: Reports
'Federal officials are poised to try to block the proposed merger of health insurance giants Anthem and Cigna, according to two separate reports on Tuesday. The news follows an International Business Times investigative series that has raised significant questions about the economic effects of the merger on healthcare consumers and also prompted a government ethics probe in the state that had been leading the regulatory review of the deal. IBT’s report was followed by
Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg and Reuters both reported that Justice Department officials are positioned to file lawsuits to halt Anthem’s multibillion-dollar acquisition of Cigna, as well as a separate merger between Aetna and Humana. The mergers would create the largest private health insurance companies in American history, and reduce the total number of major insurers to just three — a situation that groups representing physicians and consumers said could raise premiums and limit medical care for tens of millions of consumers across the country. The companies have argued that the mergers would create cost-saving efficiencies that would benefit their customers.
The Anthem-Cigna deal had been flying under the radar since it was announced in July of 2015. Since then, regulators in 12 states had quietly approved the transaction — at times without a public hearing. In June, however, the merger proposal became a flashpoint of national controversy after an IBT investigative report documented personal and familial ties between Cigna and the Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade, a former Cigna lobbyist whose agency is leading the national multistate review of the transaction.'
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/justice-department-poised-block-cigna-anthem-aetna-humana-mergers-reports-2392884
