Dive Brief:
- The American Medical Association has completed a new analysis of health insurance competition levels in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
- The AMA cites its analysis in its argument against the pending mega-mergers of Anthem/Cigna and Aetna/Humana.
- The analysis finds 14 states had a market dominated by a single health insurer with at least 50% of the commercial market, while 46 states were dominated by two insurers with at least 50% of the commercial market.
Dive Insight:
The AMA suggests the already low levels of competition in the health insurance industry will be further reduced by the proposed mergers of four of the five top insurers in the US.
Critics of the mergers argue they would exceed federal antitrust guidelines intended to maintain competition. "All told, nearly one-half of all states could see diminished competition in local health insurance markets," The AMA writes.
The 10 states the AMA names the least competitive overall for the commercial health insurance markets, which includes the HMO, PPO and POS markets, are:
1. Alabama
2. Hawaii
3. Michigan
4. Delaware
5. Alaska
6. South Carolina
7. Louisiana
8. Nebraska
9. Illinois
10. North Dakota
The AMA adds the 10 states where competition levels dropped the most from 2010 to 2013 were: Louisiana, Idaho, New Jersey, Missouri, Montana, Illinois, Texas, West Virginia, Iowa and Ohio.