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US: DOJ sues to block insurance mergers

By  |  July 21, 2016

CNBC reported on Thursday that the Justice Department filed lawsuits Thursday to block two megadeals in the health insurance industry, saying the deals would harm competition across the country.

The lawsuits targeted Anthem’s proposed $54 billion acquisition of Cigna and Aetna’s plan to buy Humana for $37 billion claiming that the mergers would reduce to three the number of large national health insurers.

Following the news that the insurers plan to challenge the suits, shares of Humana jumped 5.2 percent, Aetna rose 2.3 percent, Anthem gained 2.9 percent and Cigna rose 1.9 percent.

Anthem said in a statement that the lawsuit was “an unfortunate and misguided step backwards for access to affordable healthcare for America.

“The DOJ’s action is based on a flawed analysis and misunderstanding of the dynamic, competitive and highly regulated healthcare landscape and is inconsistent with the way that the DOJ has reviewed past healthcare transactions.”

Full Content: CNBC

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