According to the latest research out of Washington, D.C the payers and the providers are immensely divided when it comes to the consolidation of insurance companies. This fact was made known on Monday, May 2nd 2016 when an executive briefing was held at the annual meeting of the American Hospital Association.
The largest concern expressed at that briefing was that the health insurance mergers of Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna would result in the breakdown of the largest profit payers from a total of five to a total of three. If this merger were to be successful, health insurance would become less accessible to consumers as a result of the drastic increase in cost.
Today’s current deals regarding consolidation between health insurance providers could threaten the stability of the health insurance field as we know it. If these mergers are successful and the deals are agreed upon, the momentum that will be required to successfully move hospitals forward so that the healthcare system may move forward will dwindle significantly.
This is part of the reason that the American Hospital Association has heavily opposed the merger of these health insurance companies. In fact, the American Hospital Association has heavily opposed these mergers. The organization has gone as far as to testify heavily against the mergers. In fact, comprehensive arguments have even been submitted to the Department of Justice in regards to the potential devastation that could occur as a result of the merges.
Currently, all anticompetitive efforts are being viewed by those who are skeptical about the anticipated success of those endeavors. According to studies conducted by the Center for American Progress, all previous insurance mergers completely failed to maintain the competition within the markets that are directly associated with Medicare Advantage.
This stemmed from the fact that the entities associated with the divestments completely failed. The issue is currently so immense that there are a total of 26 commissioners from state insurance companies and a total of 25 different state attorneys that are fighting the merge proposition.
In addition to all of the complications surrounding the potential mergers, it has been established that various hospitals around the nation, and many private physician practices are facing a high level of antitrust security. One example of such an issue is the recent U.S District Court case that encouraged the blocking of the proposal between two major insurance companies that was part of a deal that was originally proposed by the Blue Cross Blue Shield in the State of Illinois.
Hospitals, though, should not be hesitant to oppose such mergers. This is especially true given the fact that those healthcare facilities are actually experiencing the full brunt of the litigations and investigations pertaining to the antitrust issues. By enforcing antitrust efforts, hospitals and other practices are actually protecting the consumers in many different ways.
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