Dive Brief:
- Anthem has not been sitting idly by as it awaits approval from state and federal regulators for its pending merger with Cigna, according to the International Business Times.
- IBT reported the Anthem has donated a total of $460,000 to several political groups that support campaigns of governors and state attorneys general central to the deal.
- The data was made public Friday in filings released by the Internal Revenue Service that showed during the past three months Anthem donated $210,000 to the Republican Governors Association and $200,000 to the Democratic Governors Association.
Dive Insight:
Anthem contributed another $50,000 to state officials via the Democratic-affiliated political group “Unity Convention 2016,” the IBT reported. Also, the insurance commissioners tasked with reviewing the Anthem-Cigna merger are, in many states, appointed by their governors.
The pressure has been on Anthem to close the controversial mega-deal with Cigna as the process hit some apparent snags and began lagging behind that of the competing merger between Aetna and Humana, which has been more widely predicted to succeed.
Cigna questioned in May whether the deal would close within 2016 as planned, which along with some other issues, sparked harsh words from Anthem. As of this month, analysts have been questioning whether the DOJ is ready to call it a no-go on the deal.
Of particular note with the donations is that the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is led by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who has refused to require his insurance commissioner, Katharine Wade, who is heading the national multi-state review of the deal, to recluse herself despite her previous professional and current familial ties to Cigna. The Insurance Department of Connecticut declined to answer an information request from the IBT in June regarding Wade's role.
To provide some perspective, the IBT noted that in total, Anthem and Cigna have given the DGA a combined $1.1 million since Malloy began the process of nominating Wade to her position in 2015. "That sum is 37% more than the group raised in the entire 2014 election cycle, and almost half of the total campaign contributions the companies have given the group in the last decade."