U.S. Files Lawsuits Challenging Health Insurer Deals
July 21 2016 - 10:13AM
Dow Jones News
By Brent Kendall and Anna Wilde Mathews
U.S. antitrust enforcers on Thursday filed lawsuits challenging
Anthem Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc.'s
planned combination with Humana Inc., alleging the mergers would
produce an unacceptable reduction in competition.
The antitrust lawsuits are a bold response by the Justice
Department to aggressive efforts by the nation's leading health
insurers to consolidate. Had the department allowed the deals, the
number of large health insurers would have dropped to three from
five.
The department filed the lawsuits in a Washington, D.C., federal
court, asking a judge to block the mergers. The department has
scheduled an 11 a.m. ET press conference to discuss the
lawsuits.
The lawsuits come at the twilight of the tenure of President
Barack Obama's antitrust enforcers, who have blocked several
controversial mergers, even as they've approved others with
conditions attached.
The insurance battle gives the Justice Department at least one
more major antitrust case to battle in court before the current
crop of enforcers gives way to a new administration.
Antitrust enforcers have won most of the cases they have brought
in recent years, though there have been occasional setbacks,
including court rulings that went against Federal Trade Commission
challenges to hospital mergers.
The $48 billion Anthem-Cigna acquisition would create the
largest health insurer by enrollment, with more than 54 million
members, and $117 billion in annual revenue.
Aetna's $34 billion proposed acquisition of Humana would allow
it to become the biggest seller of Medicare Advantage plans, and
have overall revenue of about $115 billion combined based on 2015
totals.
Both deals were announced last summer.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com and Anna Wilde
Mathews at anna.mathews@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 21, 2016 10:58 ET (14:58 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Humana (NYSE:HUM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Humana (NYSE:HUM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024