A press release announcing Slatery’s decision stated the mergers would be harmful to consumers.
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The government said the two companies compete head to head in about 90 percent of the U.S. districts where Aetna offers the insurance.
“Competition in our health insurance markets is crucial to keeping premiums down and the quality of care up, particularly when it comes to our seniors and other vulnerable populations, the individuals most affected by this proposed acquisition”, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
The companies announced today that they will fight the DOJ’s lawsuits in court in order to move ahead with their mergers, he explained. “And consumers are entitled to benefit from their continued competition”, Mr. Baer said. They argued that combining would indeed benefit consumers and Medicare Advantage customers.
“These four are already some of the largest most sophisticated insurance companies in the USA”, he said.
The DOJ also points to Missouri as a state that would face significantly less competition as a result of the Anthem-Cigna deal. “Deals that create larger health systems give the providers of health care more leverage in negotiating rates with private insurers”.
But Cigna, which has appeared to be a somewhat reluctant partner in the merger, said only that it was evaluating its options within the confines of the merger agreement but did not expect the transaction to close anytime soon, “if at all”.
IL joined a federal lawsuit seeking to block Humana and Aetna health insurance companies from merging, alleging the combination would harm seniors.
“The prospect of reducing five national health insurance carriers to just three is unacceptable”.
“This is an important first step in highlighting the significant deficiencies in these proposed mergers, and their negative impact on patient access to care in Connecticut and throughout the county”, said Matthew Katz, chief executive officer at the Connecticut Medical Society.
“My initial impression from the complaint…is that the Justice Department and the states are on much safer ground” in their argument against an Aetna-Humana tie-up, said Beau Buffier, co-head of the antitrust group at Shearman & Sterling in NY. Harris and 11 other states joined in the suits.
A UnitedHealthcare spokesman said the company had no immediate comment on the government’s lawsuits.
Lynch said that if the “big five became the big three”, then Americans and their bank accounts would suffer.
Antitrust regulators had been expected to file lawsuits aimed at blocking both deals by the end of next week, Reuters reported earlier this week.
Separately, Humana boosted its earnings forecasts for the second quarter and 2016, saying its Medicare Advantage and health-care services businesses outpaced expectations.
Humana also raised its outlook on full-year earnings per share to $9.25, higher than the prior expectation of $8.85 a share.
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Humana shares rose 4.3 percent to $165.17.
