{"id":9889,"date":"2017-01-23T21:35:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/01\/23\/judge-blocks-health-care-merger-saying-it-would-hurt-competition\/"},"modified":"2017-01-23T21:35:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:35:00","slug":"judge-blocks-health-care-merger-saying-it-would-hurt-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/judge-blocks-health-care-merger-saying-it-would-hurt-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Blocks Health Care Merger, Saying It Would Hurt Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rebecca Hersher<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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A federal judge has ruled against Aetna’s proposed merger with its rival, Humana. Jessica Hill\/AP<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jessica Hill\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A federal judge has ruled against the proposed acquisition of the health insurance company Humana by its larger rival, Aetna.<\/p>\n

The decision is a victory for former President Obama’s Justice Department, which sued Aetna last year to block the $34 billion merger, NPR’s Yuki Noguchi reported.<\/p>\n

The suit alleged that the merger would hurt competition in the health care market, leading to higher prices for consumers and fewer services for Medicare patients.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge John Bates found that to be the case, writing in his decision that, “the merger of Aetna and Humana would be likely to substantially lessen competition in markets for individual Medicare Advantage plans and health insurance sold on the public exchanges” in 364 counties.<\/p>\n

Medicare Advantage<\/a> plans are privately run but reimbursed by Medicare.<\/p>\n

Bates also spent a considerable chunk of the 158-page decision analyzing Aetna’s decision, announced last summer, to withdraw its insurance plans from 17 counties where Aetna and Humana both sold plans on the public exchanges.<\/p>\n

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The company also pulled back from 11 of the 15 states in which it offered individual plans in 2016, as we reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As NPR’s Scott Hensley reported<\/a> at the time:<\/p>\n

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“Aetna said the pullback was a business decision<\/a> stemming from a loss in the second quarter on individual plans and uncertainty about the policy outlook for the exchanges.<\/p>\n

“In the company’s statement<\/a>, [Aetna CEO Mark] Bertolini said, ‘As a strong supporter of public exchanges as a means to meet the needs of the uninsured, we regret having to make this decision.’ …<\/p>\n

“Bertolini was talking up the business potential of the exchanges as recently as April, when he said during a call with analysts and investors<\/a> that the exchanges were ‘a good investment,’ despite the losses incurred.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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