The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has suspended Cigna from enrolling new customers or marketing plans for Cigna Medicare Advantage and Standalone Prescription Drug Plan Contracts. The agency found numerous problems and in a letter accused Cigna of “widespread and systematic failures impacting Cigna enrollees’ ability to access medical services and prescription medications.” The failures included the denial of health care coverage and prescription drugs to patients

A new report by the think tank the Center for American Progress concludes that the merger of Aetna and Humana will mean higher Medicare Advantage premiums for seniors. The authors conducted analyses of premium prices in various counties and concluded that in counties where the two companies compete, premiums are substantially lower than in counties where they do not. CAP notes that the Medicare Advantage market is already highly concentrated. Currently, Humana has 19% of the

Fifteen state attorneys general have joined a Justice Department probe of the Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergers. The states that have joined the investigation include Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, each of which has an active antitrust office. The heightened scrutiny of these mergers is further evidence that the antitrust review of the two mergers will be tough and prolonged. As part of these investigations, the state attorneys general will prov

Yesterday, the American Antitrust Institute, an independent and nonprofit education, research and advocacy organization, urged the Department of Justice to reject the proposed mergers between Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana. The AAI has opposed other mergers, including the US Airways-American Airlines merger and the proposed combination of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller. The fifteen page letter, written by Professor Thomas Greaney of the Saint Louis University School of Law

A couple of months ago, America's largest insurance company, UnitedHealth Group, announced that it is reducing its efforts to attract customers to its insurance exchanges products under the Affordable Care Act. Moreover, UnitedHealth stated that it may withdraw its participation in the exchanges after 2016. The company said this move was due to the uncertain financial future facing the exchanges. Competition in the health insurance market matters. UnitedHealth is the fourth l