[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Yak_52__G-CBSS_FLAT_SPIN.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The War of the Payers continues.
Update: The DC Court of Appeals released its decision Friday 28 April to deny the Anthem-Cigna merger, upholding the District Court’s decision. This was a 2 to 1 vote that was issued immediately prior to the 30 April merger expiration. It cited that the savings would not mitigate the anti-competitive effects in the national, large group, and local markets, mainly in Medicare Advantage. What has been under-reported is that 11 states plus DC originally joined with the DOJ to enjoin (stop) the merger. In the US system, any healthcare merger also has to be approved by the states, and this merger was a failure in this area. Remarkably, even the dissenting judge cited problems with hospitals and doctors due to the combined company’s negotiating power.
In any rational business deal, this would be the final nail in the coffin, especially with one of the merger partners already wanting to leave. Unless Anthem wants to appeal to the US Supreme Court, this merger has reached The End of the Line. Yet publicly Anthem is pursuing, at least for the time being. In a statement, Anthem expressed “We are committed to completing the transaction and are currently reviewing the opinion and will carefully evaluate our options.” Court decision in full. Healthcare Dive. MedCityNews.
To recap other recent developments: In February, the two insurers were filing and counter-filing each other in Delaware Chancery Court–Cigna to end their merger, Anthem to continue. Last Wednesday (19 April), Anthem filed an injunction to prevent the deal from expiring as per the merger agreement on 30 April. This injunction may be heard by the Chancery Court on 8 May, according to Anthem documents, but the main court documents are still under seal. (Law 360, via Healthcare Dive 24 April)
In prior Federal court actions, the Federal District Court in DC, based on action by the US Department of Justice, first denied the merger on 8 February on antitrust and anti-competitive grounds [TTA 9 Feb]. Unlike the also denied Aetna-Humana merger, it was publicly known, to the point where it was cited in the District Court decision, that the companies had significant disagreements on the merger. After the denial, Anthem wasted no time in appealing for a reversal of the decision with the DC Court of Appeals. Cigna lost no time in initially wanting no part of any appeal of the ruling by Anthem–and filed in Delaware Chancery Court for $13 bn in damages in addition to the contractual breakup fee of $1.85 bn [TTA 14 Feb]. Two days later, Anthem filed in the same court for an injunction to delay the merger agreement’s legal termination [TTA 16 Feb]. In March, Cigna surprisingly filed a brief in support of Anthem’s appeal (Healthcare Dive). Anthem has also denied rumors of an appeal to the Justice Department to save the merger (Reuters), which is now moot if it ever existed.
As the clock winds down, there remain rivers of bad blood and accusations of bad faith between these two organizations which will continue to be fought in court. Was this merger ever really necessary? No, and it never was, and in our 16 February/21 February update (see analysis), this Editor opines on why Anthem’s to-date persistence in pursuing this has been extraordinarily harmful–to their customers and to both companies.
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