Any deal would draw close scrutiny over antitrust concerns and there has been some speculation that the U.S. Department of Justice would examine the Aetna-Humana combination and a Cigna-Anthem deal together.
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It appears the mega healthcare merger between Anthem and Cigna could soon be a done deal.
Anthem ranks as the nation’s second-largest health insurer, by most measures, and Cigna the fifth largest.
The big health benefits giants see consolidation as a way to cope with President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The act’s individual mandate means millions of Americans will get insurance, either through Medicaid expansion or by buying individual plans from private insurers.
Representatives for the two insurers were not immediately available for comment.
While the new membership is a boost to insurers, the ACA also brought with it a number of costly regulations, such as caps on the amount of profit an insurer can make from a Medicare patient.
Any mergers by the top insurers will be closely scrutinized by federal regulators looking for anti-competitive outcomes for policyholders and others.
ANTM share prices have remained flat today, while Cigna is trading about 2.5% higher following the news.
In reality, the inventory extra than doubled after Capital Wave ForecastEditor Shah Gilani first really helpful it at a split-adjusted worth of $60.10 a share – reaching a peak of $134.54.
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Anthem has slightly improved on its previous cash and stock offer of $184 per share and will pay somewhere around $188 per share for its rival, and apparently Cordani has agreed to let Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish be the leader of the combined firm, although details are still being negotiated. But because it’s been some time since our last detailed update, I wanted to find a way to share these latest insights with you. In addition, Cigna cited a “lack of growth strategy”, potential regulatory obstacles and a data breach disclosed by Anthem earlier this year as reasons why it rejected to the offer. Anthem is based in modest corporate offices on Monument Circle and operates a major processing center Downtown off Virginia Avenue.
