CHICAGO, July 6 (Reuters) - California's insurance commissioner, who tried to block the biggest U.S. health insurance merger last year, said he would apply the same "close scrutiny" to the planned acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems (PHS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) by UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH.N: Quote, Profile, Research)
California insurance Commissioner John Garamendi held up the $16.5 billion acquisition of WellPoint by rival Anthem, which finally closed in 2004. It created the biggest U.S. health insurance company with 28 million members.
On Wednesday, UnitedHealth and California-based PacifiCare said they agreed to merge in a cash and stock deal worth $8.1 billion.
Garamendi said in a statement that his "department has established a very clear position on health care industry consolidations and the effect that they may have on consumers," and that he would apply that "same close scrutiny" to the UnitedHealth deal.
Garamendi eventually cleared the WellPoint merger, but not after holding it up for months and extracting concessions from both companies.
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