Aetna and Humana trial set for Dec. 5, later than companies had hoped
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates said the insurer failed to provide evidence of any harm that would be done by having a later trial.
The trial to decide the $34 billion merger between Aetna and Humana will begin on Dec. 5, according to published reports.
The date is later than the fall trial requested by Aetna.
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates said the insurer failed to provide evidence of any harm that would be done by having a later trial, according to published reports.
[Also: Aetna, Humana to sell Medicare Advantage business in 21 states]
The Justice Department had requested that the trials against the Aetna merger and the $53 billion proposed deal between Anthem and Cigna, start in February.
Bates said a decision would likely be handed up in January.
In July, the Department of Justice filed an injunction against Aetna's proposed merger with Humana and against Anthem's deal with Cigna, citing antitrust and anti-competitive concerns. In Aetna's case, the concerns involve a lack of competition and resulting affordability for consumers in the Medicare Advantage market.
Key to the case is Aetna's argument that its Medicare Advantage product competes with government Medicare. The Department of Justice claims that commercial Medicare Advantage and government Medicare are non-competitive.
Earlier this month, Bates said he would retain the Aetna-Humana case but said the Anthem-Cigna case would be reassigned to another judge because he could not try and decide both cases by the end of the year.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia has taken over the Anthem-Cigna case. She has not set a date, but indicated trial would begin in December or January 2017
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
