There’s been a lot of talk about consolidation in the healthcare industry lately, particularly among health insurance companies as four of the five national insurers have agreed to merge into two separate companies. Even though these two cases have made some strides in several different states, they are currently being challenged in court by the U.S. Department of Justice on antitrust grounds.
Humana’s big presence in Medicare Advantage with 3.2 million clients is appealing to Aetna because as the country’s population ages, the market continues to grow. To ease antitrust concerns, Aetna and Humana are selling a total $117 million of MA assets to Molina Healthcare.
Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Bill Baer argued, however, the divestitures are unlikely to solve the competitive problems investigators have identified.
Aetna and Humana say they are prepared to “vigorously defend their pending transaction” in court before the end of this year. Their trial date is set for December 5. Here is the story behind the deal: