Dive Brief:
- The American Medical Association (AMA) announced Monday it has joined with the Florida Medical Association (FMA) and the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA) to push back against Aetna's pending acquisition of Humana.
- The groups wrote to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask she reject the merger over concerns that anticompetitive impacts would result in poorer healthcare quality and affordability in the state.
- The AMA says its own analysis shows the merger would conflict with federal antitrust guidelines in multiple metropolitan regions of the state.
Dive Insight:
The groups' action counters last month's move by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) to release a conditional consent order for the deal.
The opposing physicians argue the consent order errs by relying on regulation to take the place of competition.
They further argue there is already a lack of competition in the majority of the state's health insurance markets and complain “the OIR appears to have been captured by Aetna’s faulty arguments that existing state and federal regulation…mostly solve the competitive concerns and justify very limited remedies that are largely illusory.”
They contend that competition rather than consolidation will be better for the markets and for consumers.
"Given the negative long-term consequences of the proposed merger, any remedy short of rejection would not adequately protect 2.4 million people in Florida," stated AMA President-elect Andrew W. Gurman.