Earlier this week, Missouri’s insurance department issued a preliminary order that would ban Aetna and Humana from selling certain insurance products — primarily in the Medicare Advantage markets — should their merger go through.
According to a recent AMA analysis, the Aetna-Humana deal would have severely cut the competition in Missouri’s Medicare Advantage markets.
“The AMA strongly applauds Missouri regulators for taking the right approach to prevent the proposed acquisition of Humana by rival Aetna from creating anticompetitive market power that would have threatened Missouri’s healthcare delivery system,” Steven Stack, MD, president of the AMA, said in a statement. “The Missouri order strongly validates concerns that AMA has expressed to Missouri regulators, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, and officials in other states impacted by the proposed health insurer mergers.”
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