Dive Brief:
- Aetna and Humana both filed forms last Friday with the SEC to extend the deadline to complete their planned merger, Dayton Business Journal reported.
- The filings push the deadline to December 31.
- The extension gives the company more time to receive the 20 state regulatory approvals the deal needs to continue. Recently, Missouri gave the planned merger some push back.
Dive Insight:
DBJ noted that an Aetna filing had given June 30 as the merger finalization date.
The planned merger of Aetna and Humana has been making headlines as of late. Last week, Shelley Rouillard, director of the California Department of Managed Health Care, approved the pending merger (with conditions pinned to the approval). Three days later, noted megamerger hater California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones urged antitrust regulators to block the planned merger.
Jones declared the Aetna/Humana merger anticompetitive citing reduced competition, an already concentrated health insurance market, a decrease in quality, and an increase in prices. The AMA applauded Jones' take on the merger as well as the pending Anthem/Cigna merger.
The extension, Humana’s SVP of Corporate Communications Tom Noland, “was routine and expected,” the DBJ noted. Last October, in a prepared statement, Humana noted both companies expect the transaction will be completed in the latter half of 2016.