Anthem and Cigna could be backing away from their attempted merger, which has faced a tsunami of opposition from consumer advocates, doctors, hospitals, and legislators. Good riddance. Antitrust regulators, including state and federal antitrust enforcers, state insurance commissioners and others have been wary of the deal and expressed concerns that it would harm consumers and lead to too much concentration in an already poorly functioning health insurance industry. They also

Forty-three state and national organizations have signed a letter to the Department of Justice expressing grave concerns about the state review of the Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergers and urging DOJ to protect consumers from any harm resulting from the deals. The signatories observe that these health insurance mergers will greatly impact health insurance markets across the nation, and will lead to increased consolidation, reduced competition, and higher premiums and heal

Yesterday, seven U.S. senators released a letter to the Department of Justice announcing their opposition to the Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergers on the grounds that they would hurt consumers by increasing premium prices and overall costs, diminishing competition and choice, and reducing access to quality care. They also called on DOJ to challenge the mergers, and stated that neither merger could be fixed by divestitures. The Senators opposing the mergers are Senators Ri

The Department of Justice and multiple state Attorneys General have privately expressed grave concerns about Anthem’s proposed acquisition of Cigna, and don’t believe that the merging companies can come up with remedies that will adequately protect consumers and restore competition in health insurance markets. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that representatives of Anthem and Cigna met with staff members from the Department of Justice and representatives from over 1

Yesterday California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced that he opposes the proposed merger of health insurance companies Anthem and Cigna, and urged the Department of Justice to block the merger on the grounds that it was anticompetitive and would harm consumers. In a twenty-two page letter, he states that the merger “will harm Californians, California’s businesses, and our health insurance market” by leading to increased premiums, decreased quality of care, and red

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is designed to provide access to health care, to reduce premiums, and to bend the health care cost curve in order to benefit all Americans. However, its success will depend on free and fair competition in the health insurance markets, and the Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana insurance mergers will greatly reduce this competition. Kathleen Sebelius, former Secretary of Health and Humana Services under President Obama and one of the key architects of

State Attorneys General and the Department of Justice conduct merger investigations that are almost entirely confidential. By contrast, State Insurance Commissioners fully analyze health insurance markets and mergers in the open, and can broaden the scope of the investigation or consider additional factors after listening to the public. For these reasons, it is extremely worrying that Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy recently signed a secrecy bill into law that will empower

In their review of health insurance mergers, state Insurance Commissioners possess an important advantage over state Attorneys General: their merger review process is transparent and open to the public. When state Attorneys General investigate mergers, their actions are confidential and there is little opportunity for input from consumer advocates, the merging parties, or concerned citizens. State Insurance Commissioners have the power to hold hearings, propose sweeping remed

Since 2000, higher health insurance premiums have become a significant problem for ordinary Americans. Premiums have increased at a far greater rate than workers’ wages, to the point where many Americans are skipping appointments and medical tests or postponing getting health care. The health insurance mergers of Anthem and Cigna and Aetna and Humana are supposed to alleviate this problem; the merging companies insist that substantial efficiencies will flow from these mergers

Consumer advocates, healthcare providers and hospitals, legislators, and antitrust regulators have all criticized the proposed mergers of Anthem and Cigna and Aetna and Humana. They have expressed skepticism that the deals will really lead to lower healthcare costs, or that those benefits would reach consumers instead of being used to generate greater profits. Now, large employers, who will be greatly impacted by the mergers, are also voicing concerns that reduced competition