What You Need to Know About the Anthem-Cigna Merge

When massive healthcare companies, like Anthem and Cigna, attempt to get together, it means drastic changes are coming to the healthcare industry. The merge is currently up in the air, but there are speculations as to what could happen if the two end up joining. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know.

• The deal was originally presented back in July of 2015, with both Cigna and Anthem on board, and no expected obstacles to hurdle over.
• The goal of this merger and other large healthcare merges like this, was to grow the bigger healthcare providers in order to decrease overall cost to consumers.
• If the merge were to go through, the new Anthem merge would be expected to cover over 53.2 million people.
• The experts have overall mixed reviews. 46% expect the merge to have an adverse impact on consumer healthcare while 21% see it resulting in cost advantages. Still, about one-third of people do not expect to see any large impact from the merge at all.
• As of February 14^th, 2017, Cigna Corp announced that it would be breaking off its agreement with Anthem Inc., as a federal judge blocked the merge on antitrust grounds.
• Around the same time, two other insurance giants abandoned their merge as well, Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc.
• Cigna has now filed a lawsuit against Anthem for a $1.85 billion termination fee and $13 billion in damages.

What’s Happening Now?

Anthem recently filed an appeal to fight the antitrust charges, which was granted a speedy process in February of 2017, although the Department of Justice is still against the merge. The DOJ is saying that Anthem had no real plan of lowering medical costs for its consumers and that it was ‘purely aspirational.' With no proof of how it would help save on medical expenses in the long run, the DOJ is against the merge.  In fact, the fear is that the merge would eliminate competition amongst healthcare providers, driving up overall costs. Anthem filed for a temporary restraining order to keep Cigna from terminating their deal, which was granted. However, since Cigna has not dropped its lawsuit against Anthem, their compliance with the deal is still unclear. The deadline for the merger is April 30^th.

Stay Up-To-Date

The world of healthcare is always changing. Luckily, you can trust Heath Care Support to keep you up to date on the latest news. Our client resources are here to help you better navigate through whatever new laws, current events, or changes that may be happening. If you have questions or would like to speak to one of our experts, call us today at 407-478-0332.