Courts in US block second health merger
US judge blocks health insurer Anthem’s proposed $54bn merger with smaller rival Cigna to avoid concentrating the industry even more
Washington — A federal judge on Wednesday ruled against US health insurer Anthem’s proposed $54bn merger with smaller rival Cigna, derailing an unprecedented effort to consolidate the country’s health insurance industry. The US justice department sued in July to stop Anthem’s purchase of Cigna, a deal that would have created the largest US health insurer by membership, and Aetna’s planned $33bn acquisition of Humana. The merger would have worsened an already highly concentrated market and is likely to raise prices, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said while issuing the ruling against Anthem’s deal. Last month, a different US judge ruled against Aetna’s proposed deal for Humana. Government antitrust officials argued that both deals would lead to less competition and higher prices for Americans. The acquisitions would have reduced the number of large national insurers in the US from five to three. Jackson had separated the justice departm...
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