The U.S. Justice Department has told Anthem Inc. that the insurer’s planned takeover of Cigna Corp. threatens competition and probably can’t be fixed by selling parts of their businesses, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem Inc. said it is not in discussions with Cigna Corp. to end their planned $48 billion merger, as speculation about the health-insurance deal’s fate mounts.
The health insurers are set to meet Friday with the Justice Department’s No. 3 official, a critical moment as the government makes its decision about whether to approve or block the $48 billion deal.
Federal regulators are giving the proposed $48 billion merger between health insurers Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp a hard look, and some analysts are hedging their bets.
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday called the deal “anti-competitive” and said it would hurt consumers, businesses and the state’s health insurance market.
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. and Warsaw’s Zimmer Biomet Holdings vaulted back among the top 500 this year, while local oil refiner Calumet Specialty Products Partners plummeted.
Anthem, one of Indiana’s largest insurers, is seeking premium hikes ranging from nearly 20 percent to 41 percent for coverage it sells on and off the Affordable Care Act’s public insurance exchanges.
An analyst said the delay could be a sign of trouble for the acquisition.
During his tenure, Wayne DeVeydt helped Anthem navigate through the recession, make the transition into Obamacare and negotiate its planned $54 billion acquisition of rival Cigna Corp.
Seven insurers, including Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc., reached an agreement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to cover hepatitis C drugs for patients in the early stages of the disease and for drug and alcohol users.
The Indianapolis-based insurer essentially broke even on its Obamacare exchange business last year.
The company, which is in the process of buying rival insurer Cigna Corp. for $54 billion, said medical enrollment has climbed by about 1 million members since the end of 2015, reaching 39.6 million members.
The nation’s biggest health insurer has decided to stop selling coverage on public insurance exchanges in two states next year and is continuing to evaluate its presence in other markets after reporting steep losses.
Express Scripts Holding Co.’s incoming CEO is trying to keep its biggest customer after Anthem Inc. sued to recoup billions of dollars in what it called excess payments for drugs and threatened to end their relationship.
The insurer’s CEO said in January that Anthem should be reaping an addition $3 billion per year in savings on drugs from Express Scripts, which manages its pharmacy benefits.
Under the deal, Franciscan was financially accountable for what it would spend on care for about 60,000 patients who had Anthem benefits provided by its employers or purchased individually. Would it work?
Anthem Inc. has bumped up the quarterly dividend it pays shareholders by 4 percent, opting for a much smaller increase than its previous hike.
Express Scripts Holding Co. said it’s still working to resolve its contract dispute with Indianapolis-based insurer Anthem Inc., which has claimed it should be getting much more in savings from the pharmacy benefit manager.
The Indianapolis-based insurer is eking out a small profit from selling policies to individuals under the Affordable Care Act, but many of its rivals aren’t.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem Inc. saw medical enrollment slip and overhead rise in the fourth quarter, pushing down profit by 64 percent. Shares fell more than 3 percent Wednesday morning.
