Proposed Acquisition of Cigna Corporation by （信诺公司的收购）.pdf

Statement of Dena Mendelsohn Staff Attorney Consumers Union to the Department of Managed Health Care on the Proposed Acquisition of Cigna Corporation by Anthem, Inc. March 9, 2016 Consumers Union, the public policy and advocacy arm of nonprofit Consumer Reports, offers this testimony on the proposed acquisition of Cigna Corporation (“Cigna”) by Anthem, Inc. (“Anthem”). From its founding, Consumer Reports has striven for a marketplace of safe, effective, reliable, and fairly priced products—this mission extends deeply into the health care sector. The advantages for health plans that merge are clear, but the advantage for consumers are not. Instead, we anticipate a less competitive insurance marketplace, with the potential for lower quality products at higher costs for consumers. While consumers around the nation await the outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of this proposed merger, Californians also rely on state regulators to take action as may be necessary to protect consumer interests in our state. We, therefore, ask you to ensure that if Anthem and Cigna merge, consumers are not harmed, and the sum of the two plans is better than what consumers get when the plans stand alone. We urge the Department of Managed Health Care (“DMHC”) to review this proposed merger in light of: (1) the dominant, collective status of these insurers in California, (2) the fact that market consolidation is far more likely to benefit the carriers than the consumers, and (3) that increased market power may mean worse insurance products for consumers. We discuss these three aspects more fully below, as well as provide recommended steps to