Merger discussions involving five of the nation's largest health insurers have caught the Department of Justice's attention, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In the past month, there have been an endless stream of takeover talks in the health insurance sector, as Aetna and Cigna have both shown interest in taking over Humana, Anthem has made takeover bids for Cigna, and UnitedHealth Group has approached Aetnaabout a takeover deal.
Many of the potential mergers could raise antitrust concerns, and a senior DOJ official told The Wall Street Journal insurers considering the transactions should perform a careful risk assessment.
In the event government antitrust enforcers are faced with multiple mergers at once, the DOJ would not look at each transaction in isolation. Instead, the mergers would be assessed collectively to determine the overall effect they could have on the insurance marketplaces, the DOJ official told The Wall Street Journal. Antitrust enforcers would also explore whether the mergers would benefit consumers, according to the report.
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