Pierce writes: "David Sirota has been all over an interesting story of crony
capitalism involving a massive $54-billion proposed merger negotiated
between Cigna and Anthem, two giant healthcare insurance companies, and the
involvement in that merger of a good chunk of Connecticut's political elite,
including Democratic Governor Dan Malloy."
U.S. senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., tried to block a number of big
healthcare mergers. (photo: Pete Marovich/Getty)
There's a Reason Someone Is Supposed to Keep an Eye on Massive Mergers
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
07 July 16
A week ago, Forbes informed us that the IBTimes was going through another
brutal round of layoffs in its newsroom, cutting at least 30 people from a
staff that already had lost 15 people only three months ago. This strikes me
as a shame because the IBTimes, through the work of David Sirota, has been
all over an interesting story of crony capitalism involving a massive
$54-billion proposed merger negotiated between Cigna and Anthem, two giant
healthcare insurance companies, and the involvement in that merger of a good
chunk of Connecticut's political elite, including Democratic Governor Dan
Malloy.
Rather than try to summarize all of Sirota's work on the subject, here are
the links to the stories he's produced along with brief summaries of what
each story is about.
Secret Records And Lack Of Hearings Raise Concerns In Merger Review (IBT,
7/5/16)
Increased Pressure On Malloy As Another State Democrat Demands
Commissioner's Recusal (IBT, 6/30/16)
Groups Say Connecticut Controversy Requires Federal Intervention As GOP
Demands Hearings (IBT, 6/29/16)
Controversy Over Gov. Malloy's Insurance Commissioner Creates Role Reversal
For Republicans (IBT, 6/29/16)
Malloy's Regulator Told Ethics Officials She Was Not Involved In Cigna
Issues, Even As Her Agency Was (IBT, 6/27/16)
Blumenthal Calls On DOJ To Block Merger While His Home State Spearheads
State Reviews (IBT, 6/22/16)
Gov. Malloy's Administration Offered Cigna Help In Lead-Up To Merger Review
(IBT, 6/21/16)
Connecticut Ethics Probe Spotlights Similar Conflict-of-Interest Charges
From The 1990s (IBT, 6/17/16)
Connecticut Officials Vote To Launch Ethics Review Of Gov. Dan Malloy's
Insurance Regulator (IBT, 6/16/16)
Anthem And Cigna Boost Spending On Lobbying As Lawmakers Review Merger (IBT,
6/16/16)
Connecticut Ethics Officials To Vote On Conflict-Of-Interest Controversy
(IBT, 6/14/16)
Gov. Malloy Signs Secrecy Bill That Could Shield Insurance Information From
Public Release (IBT, 6/13/16)
Dem & GOP Lawmakers Demand Malloy's Regulator Be Removed From Controversial
Merger Review (IBT, 6/10/16)
Obamacare Architect Kathleen Sebelius Questions Proposed Healthcare
Insurance Mergers (IBT, 6/10/16)
Connecticut Rejects Request For Records About Anthem-Cigna Merger (IBT,
6/7/16)
Connecticut Groups Call For Dan Malloy To Remove Insurance Regulator In
Anthem-Cigna Merger (IBT, 6/2/16)
Will Cigna And Anthem Merge? How Health Insurance Companies Pump Money Into
Politics (IBT, 6/1/16)
Right now, in part because of the work that IBTimes has done, Connecticut
politics are at something of a high boil as, around the country, people look
with a baleful eye at a merger between two health insurance giants like
Cigna and Anthem. On Tuesday, an editorial in the Connecticut Post deplored
the lack of transparency that had attended the huge transaction, and the
cozy culture within which the merger seems to have been accomplished.
Commissioner Katharine L. Wade's controversial refusal to recuse herself
from ruling on the Anthem-Cigna insurance merger has provoked a reappraisal
of ethics regulators, who heavily rely on the self-reporting of public
officials, and an ethics code that may be clearer to lawyers than lovers of
English. No one from the Office of State Ethics challenged Wade when she
sought approval on Feb. 26 for her husband, Michael T. Wade, the associate
chief counsel for litigation at Cigna, to sell company stock as his options
vested from Feb. 25 to March 5-something he would be barred from doing if
the commissioner was considering a matter involving Cigna.Wade, a former
Cigna vice president of government affairs, did not try to hide the fact
that her staff, at that very moment, was reviewing Anthem's 5-month-old
"Form A application" to acquire Cigna for $54 billion, a massive transaction
involving the second- and fourth-largest health insurers in the United
States. "The application is currently under review by Department staff,"
Wade wrote in an email to the Office of State Ethics. "On behalf of the
Department, I signed a contract with an independent economist to assist
Department staff in their review of the Anthem Form A application.
Presently, there are no Cigna matters before me." Wade declined to say
Friday on what basis she concluded there were no Cigna matters before her
under the meaning the state ethics code, given that she already has asserted
her intention to rule on the merger.
In Washington, Democratic senators, including Richard Blumenthal, Democrat
of.wait for it.Connecticut, are looking to squash not only this merger, but
another proposed one that would combine Aetna and Humana with a price tag of
$33 billion. And the mergers also have drawn the attention of antitrust
regulators as well. Per The Wall Street Journal:
In the meeting earlier this month, Justice Department officials outlined key
areas where they say a combination of Anthem and Cigna could hurt
competition, the people said. A major concern is the national employer
market. The Justice officials said they believed the deal would shrink the
number of competitors to three from four. In addition to Anthem and Cigna,
that list includes Aetna and UnitedHealth Group Inc. Anthem said at an
investor conference in May that the national-account business is more
competitive than a simple calculation would imply because big employers
often divvy up their business regionally among different insurers. Another
area of concern, the people said, is the market for individual insurance
plans, the coverage sold on the exchanges that are at the heart of the Obama
administration's signature health law. Anthem is a major player in
individual markets in 14 states. Cigna has a smaller presence but is
participating in seven Affordable Care Act exchanges this year and said it
plans to expand into new states in 2017.
Meanwhile, out there in the world, some healthcare professionals are getting
nervous about what might occur if the merger goes through. In Missouri, for
example, the heads of the state's hospital association and the state's
medical association co-authored a cautionary letter to The Missouri Times.
An analysis by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation shows that Missouri is
one of only five states in which Anthem already has at least a 33 percent
share in the individual, small group and large group insurance markets. More
specifically, in 21 of 28 Missouri metropolitan statistical areas, Anthem
and Cigna would combine to hold more than one third of the total market
share. And, in 23 of the MSAs, the merger would create a presumptively
anti-competitive market. The same holds true in rural Missouri. Under
federal metrics, Anthem and Cigna combined would control more than one third
of the total market share in 44 out of 59 rural counties. In 49, the merger
would create a presumptively anti-competitive market, and in two others it
would result in a highly concentrated market.
This kind of consolidation needs to be regulated very carefully, and all
indications from the IBTimes series are that the merger was being hustled
through without even the minimal concerns for obvious conflicts of interest.
Right now, healthcare is not a field that anyone ought to try to turn into
the Wild Kingdom.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
U.S. senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., tried to block a number of big
healthcare mergers. (photo: Pete Marovich/Getty)
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a46490/cigna-anthem-merge
r/http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a46490/cigna-anthem-mer
ger/
There's a Reason Someone Is Supposed to Keep an Eye on Massive Mergers
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
07 July 16
week ago, Forbes informed us that the IBTimes was going through another
brutal round of layoffs in its newsroom, cutting at least 30 people from a
staff that already had lost 15 people only three months ago. This strikes me
as a shame because the IBTimes, through the work of David Sirota, has been
all over an interesting story of crony capitalism involving a massive
$54-billion proposed merger negotiated between Cigna and Anthem, two giant
healthcare insurance companies, and the involvement in that merger of a good
chunk of Connecticut's political elite, including Democratic Governor Dan
Malloy.
Rather than try to summarize all of Sirota's work on the subject, here are
the links to the stories he's produced along with brief summaries of what
each story is about.
Secret Records And Lack Of Hearings Raise Concerns In Merger Review (IBT,
7/5/16)
Increased Pressure On Malloy As Another State Democrat Demands
Commissioner's Recusal (IBT, 6/30/16)
Groups Say Connecticut Controversy Requires Federal Intervention As GOP
Demands Hearings (IBT, 6/29/16)
Controversy Over Gov. Malloy's Insurance Commissioner Creates Role Reversal
For Republicans (IBT, 6/29/16)
Malloy's Regulator Told Ethics Officials She Was Not Involved In Cigna
Issues, Even As Her Agency Was (IBT, 6/27/16)
Blumenthal Calls On DOJ To Block Merger While His Home State Spearheads
State Reviews (IBT, 6/22/16)
Gov. Malloy's Administration Offered Cigna Help In Lead-Up To Merger Review
(IBT, 6/21/16)
Connecticut Ethics Probe Spotlights Similar Conflict-of-Interest Charges
From The 1990s (IBT, 6/17/16)
Connecticut Officials Vote To Launch Ethics Review Of Gov. Dan Malloy's
Insurance Regulator (IBT, 6/16/16)
Anthem And Cigna Boost Spending On Lobbying As Lawmakers Review Merger (IBT,
6/16/16)
Connecticut Ethics Officials To Vote On Conflict-Of-Interest Controversy
(IBT, 6/14/16)
Gov. Malloy Signs Secrecy Bill That Could Shield Insurance Information From
Public Release (IBT, 6/13/16)
Dem & GOP Lawmakers Demand Malloy's Regulator Be Removed From Controversial
Merger Review (IBT, 6/10/16)
Obamacare Architect Kathleen Sebelius Questions Proposed Healthcare
Insurance Mergers (IBT, 6/10/16)
Connecticut Rejects Request For Records About Anthem-Cigna Merger (IBT,
6/7/16)
Connecticut Groups Call For Dan Malloy To Remove Insurance Regulator In
Anthem-Cigna Merger (IBT, 6/2/16)
Will Cigna And Anthem Merge? How Health Insurance Companies Pump Money Into
Politics (IBT, 6/1/16)
Right now, in part because of the work that IBTimes has done, Connecticut
politics are at something of a high boil as, around the country, people look
with a baleful eye at a merger between two health insurance giants like
Cigna and Anthem. On Tuesday, an editorial in the Connecticut Post deplored
the lack of transparency that had attended the huge transaction, and the
cozy culture within which the merger seems to have been accomplished.
Commissioner Katharine L. Wade's controversial refusal to recuse herself
from ruling on the Anthem-Cigna insurance merger has provoked a reappraisal
of ethics regulators, who heavily rely on the self-reporting of public
officials, and an ethics code that may be clearer to lawyers than lovers of
English. No one from the Office of State Ethics challenged Wade when she
sought approval on Feb. 26 for her husband, Michael T. Wade, the associate
chief counsel for litigation at Cigna, to sell company stock as his options
vested from Feb. 25 to March 5-something he would be barred from doing if
the commissioner was considering a matter involving Cigna.Wade, a former
Cigna vice president of government affairs, did not try to hide the fact
that her staff, at that very moment, was reviewing Anthem's 5-month-old
"Form A application" to acquire Cigna for $54 billion, a massive transaction
involving the second- and fourth-largest health insurers in the United
States. "The application is currently under review by Department staff,"
Wade wrote in an email to the Office of State Ethics. "On behalf of the
Department, I signed a contract with an independent economist to assist
Department staff in their review of the Anthem Form A application.
Presently, there are no Cigna matters before me." Wade declined to say
Friday on what basis she concluded there were no Cigna matters before her
under the meaning the state ethics code, given that she already has asserted
her intention to rule on the merger.
In Washington, Democratic senators, including Richard Blumenthal, Democrat
of.wait for it.Connecticut, are looking to squash not only this merger, but
another proposed one that would combine Aetna and Humana with a price tag of
$33 billion. And the mergers also have drawn the attention of antitrust
regulators as well. Per The Wall Street Journal:
In the meeting earlier this month, Justice Department officials outlined key
areas where they say a combination of Anthem and Cigna could hurt
competition, the people said. A major concern is the national employer
market. The Justice officials said they believed the deal would shrink the
number of competitors to three from four. In addition to Anthem and Cigna,
that list includes Aetna and UnitedHealth Group Inc. Anthem said at an
investor conference in May that the national-account business is more
competitive than a simple calculation would imply because big employers
often divvy up their business regionally among different insurers. Another
area of concern, the people said, is the market for individual insurance
plans, the coverage sold on the exchanges that are at the heart of the Obama
administration's signature health law. Anthem is a major player in
individual markets in 14 states. Cigna has a smaller presence but is
participating in seven Affordable Care Act exchanges this year and said it
plans to expand into new states in 2017.
Meanwhile, out there in the world, some healthcare professionals are getting
nervous about what might occur if the merger goes through. In Missouri, for
example, the heads of the state's hospital association and the state's
medical association co-authored a cautionary letter to The Missouri Times.
An analysis by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation shows that Missouri is
one of only five states in which Anthem already has at least a 33 percent
share in the individual, small group and large group insurance markets. More
specifically, in 21 of 28 Missouri metropolitan statistical areas, Anthem
and Cigna would combine to hold more than one third of the total market
share. And, in 23 of the MSAs, the merger would create a presumptively
anti-competitive market. The same holds true in rural Missouri. Under
federal metrics, Anthem and Cigna combined would control more than one third
of the total market share in 44 out of 59 rural counties. In 49, the merger
would create a presumptively anti-competitive market, and in two others it
would result in a highly concentrated market.
This kind of consolidation needs to be regulated very carefully, and all
indications from the IBTimes series are that the merger was being hustled
through without even the minimal concerns for obvious conflicts of interest.
Right now, healthcare is not a field that anyone ought to try to turn into
the Wild Kingdom.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
