For the past year or so, investors and analysts have been following news concerning the two payer megamergers — Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana — as they would have a tremendous impact on the entire healthcare industry. However, as months add up since the deals were announced, the four insurance players are reacting quite differently to the obstacles that officials place in front of them. However, The Wall Street Journal reports this may all be for naught if the deals fail to come to fruition.
Anthem and Cigna's relationship is coupled with fighting over problems, such as which of the two would run the combined entity. A court official supported the Department of Justice's request for Anthem and Cigna to release documents revealing the companies fighting over their merger agreement. The officials and the DOJ claim the documents would show Cigna and Anthem pointing the finger at each other for violating the terms of their merger agreement.
If the deal doesn't come to pass, Anthem would pay Cigna an almost $2 billion breakup fee.
Humana and Aetna have struck a different chord as they seek approval. To settle DOJ concerns, the two payers both agreed to sell Medicare Advantage assets to Molina Healthcare in every county that the DOJ identified as problematic for competition,
WSJ notes if Anthem and Cigna's deal doesn't pass, this would increase the chances that Aetna and Humana's merger would receive the necessary approval as there would be less consolidation in the payer industry.
However, this may not be enough as regulators continue to claim the mergers would significantly reduce competition and therefore would drive prices higher for consumers. Both cases are slated to go to trial in November.
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