In the letter, sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, AAPS’ President-elect Marilyn Singleton, MD, said: “CVS has demonstrated a pattern of anticompetitive behavior. Allowing this merger to proceed will hand the combined CVS/Aetna even more clout to drive up costs without any corresponding benefit to patients.”
Conservative-leaning AAPS argued that combining the third-largest health insurer with the largest national pharmacy chain will weaken competition in the pharmacy benefits manager market. The association’s letter comes about a month after the American Medical Association called on the Department of Justice to sue to block the deal.
The companies have long argued their combination will provide localized, community-based care across CVS Health’s 9,700-plus pharmacies and 1,100 clinics. The Department of Justice’s antitrust review is taking longer than expected due to divestitures aimed at appeasing antitrust concerns.
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