Good Riddance to Big Insurance Mergers

Federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions halting mergers of four of the five largest U.S. health insurers. These decisions provide more precedent to support challenges of mergers between competitors in health care markets — whether payers or providers. Eighteen months after four of the fiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New England journal of medicine Vol. 376; no. 19; pp. 1804 - 1806
Main Author: Dafny, Leemore S
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Massachusetts Medical Society 11.05.2017
Subjects:
Acquisitions & mergers
Antitrust
Competition
Cost Savings
Economic Competition
Federal court decisions
Health insurance
Insurance Carriers - legislation & jurisprudence
Insurance companies
Insurance, Health - economics
Insurance, Health - legislation & jurisprudence
Insurance, Health - organization & administration
United States
United States > US
ISSN:0028-4793, 1533-4406, 1533-4406
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions halting mergers of four of the five largest U.S. health insurers. These decisions provide more precedent to support challenges of mergers between competitors in health care markets — whether payers or providers. Eighteen months after four of the five largest U.S. health insurers announced multibillion-dollar merger deals, federal judges, siding with the Department of Justice (DOJ), have issued preliminary injunctions halting the two transactions. These decisions will cost the insurers: they spent over $2 billion trying to get the deals done, and the would-be acquirers are due to pay $2.85 billion in breakup fees — and possibly billions more in damages. 1 – 3 Moreover, the parties’ conduct has further damaged the public’s view of the insurance industry. Having suffered similar defeats at the hands of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), hospitals are enjoying . . .
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ISSN:0028-4793
1533-4406
1533-4406
DOI:10.1056/NEJMp1616553