Justice Department Will Seek to Block Two Health Insurance Mergers

“The Justice Department is preparing lawsuits to block two giant health insurance deals,” a New York Times source reports, “continuing a spate of antitrust actions in a whirlwind year for mergers and acquisitions.” Antitrust officials are worried that Anthem’s $48 billion pursuit of Cigna and Aetna’s $37 billion deal with Humana will have a negative impact on competition in the health insurance industry. The two mega-deals would decrease the number of the biggest insurers from five to three. The Justice Department’s final decision is expected either this week or next, the Times source said.