Report: DOJ plans to file lawsuits to block Anthem/Cigna, Aetna/Humana mergers
While sources have said they expect a decision in August, Bloomberg said the DOJ could file the lawsuits this week or next.
Aetna's corporate headquarters.
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to file lawsuits to block the two mega-insurance mergers, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg said a source familiar with the matter said the antitrust officials will file lawsuits to block both Anthem's takeover of Cigna and Aetna's proposal to buy Humana.
Both matters are before the Department of Justice.
While sources have said they expect a decision in August, Bloomberg said the DOJ could file the lawsuits this week or next.
[Also: Humana stock plummets as merger with Aetna given marginal odds of going through]
A DOJ spokesman reached by email on Tuesday afternoon declined to comment.
The DOJ can block the deals through a lawsuit, which the insurers would then be expected to defend, or would file counter-suits of their own, or potentially walk away from the deals.
The mergers would take the number of big insurers from five - including UnitedHealth - to three.
The biggest concern for federal regulators is whether the deals would harm competition, and ultimately, the consumer.
"I think the ultimate decision is really based on, will the purchasers of health insurance, the consumers and employers, will they be harmed by this?" said Paul Ginsburg, director of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy, who has spoken about the mergers before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Ginsburg said he believed the Aetna and Humana merger had a greater chance of being approved than the Anthem and Cigna merger. Aetna and Humana poses less of a concern because that business is about Medicare Advantage, which involves local markets and divestiture could help calm antitrust concerns, while there really is no remedy to anti-competitive concerns for the Anthem and Cigna merger, he said.
Shares of Humana fell sharply on the news, according to Bloomberg. Humana fell 5.3 percent; Cigna fell 1.9 percent, Anthem fell 2.7 percent, and Aetna fell 2.9 percent.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
