Dive Brief:
- About 15 state attorneys general are collaborating with the Department of Justice as the agency considers whether to approve of Aetna's plan to purchase Humana and Anthem's plan to purchase Cigna.
- The role of of the attorneys general will be to provide input on how the mergers would impact the health insurance market and consumers in their states.
- According to anonymous sources, some of the states the involved attorneys general represent include Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, Reuters reports.
Dive Insight:
The inclusion of the attorneys general increases the level of scrutiny on the pending deals and presents more potential opposition. As Reuters notes, the inclusion of numerous attorneys general last year in one of 2015's most notable acquisition reviews, Time Warner Cable/Comcast, contributed to opposition that led Comcast to drop the plan.
Anthem and Aetna publicly voiced support for the inclusion of the attorneys general. "We are confident that our transaction will receive a fair, thorough, and fact-based review from the Department of Justice and the states," Aetna stated.
Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish separately added, "They develop a lot of insights so that when the DOJ does rule, our work with all of these states is probably enhanced quite a bit because we are not starting from scratch."