Anthem asks Supreme Court to review decision blocking acquisition of Cigna

Anthem today asked the Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision blocking the health insurer’s proposed acquisition of Cigna. The appeals court last month held that the district court “reasonably determined Anthem failed to show the kind of ‘extraordinary efficiencies’ that would be needed to constrain likely price increases in this highly concentrated market, and to mitigate the threatened loss of innovation.” AHA had urged the court to uphold the district court decision. “When payer markets are concentrated, payers – and in particular, this often specifically means Anthem – are slow to shift from traditional fee-for-service reimbursement to systems that reward the ability to deliver better outcomes,” the association noted. “If Anthem were permitted to acquire Cigna the pace of innovation would slow, to the detriment of providers and consumers.”