The US Department of Justice filed suit last week to block Anthem’s proposed purchase of Cigna and Aetna’s planned acquisition of Humana. Justice department officials said the two mergers would reduce competition, raise prices for consumers and stifle innovation if the number of large, national insurers were to fall from five to three. Read an article describing the suit in the In the News feature in this Bulletin.
National physician groups like the AMA and Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI) had opposed the mergers. North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) CEO Robert Seligson was quoted in USA Today speaking in his capacity as PAI president. Read that article here.