UnitedHealthcare Group monument signage at its corporate headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Credit: Google'Health Care Behemoth'?: DOJ Seeks Injunction Blocking $3.3B UnitedHealth Merger Proposal
“The Justice Department will not hesitate to check unlawful consolidation and monopolization in the health care market that threatens to harm vulnerable patients, their families, and health care workers,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
November 14, 2024 at 11:27 AM
3 minute read
Antitrust
What You Need to Know
- The U.S. Department of Justice seeks a permanent injunction preventing UnitedHealth from consummating its proposed acquisition of Amedisys Inc.
- Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include state attorneys general for Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.
- UnitedHealth defends its $3.3 billion proposed merger as procompetitive.
The U.S. Department of Justice and several states have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the insurance provider UnitedHealth Group Inc. from acquiring the nation’s largest home health and hospice firm.
UnitedHealth’s proposed $3.3 billion merger with Amedisys Inc. is “presumptively anticompetitive and illegal” under the Clayton Act, according to the allegations in the complaint.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, was surfaced by Law.com Radar.
“We are challenging this merger because home health and hospice patients and their families experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives deserve affordable, high quality care options,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday in a statement. “The Justice Department will not hesitate to check unlawful consolidation and monopolization in the health care market that threatens to harm vulnerable patients, their families, and health care workers.”
UnitedHealth’s Optum Health business in June 2023 proposed an all-cash offer to combine with Amedisys.
“The Amedisys combination with Optum would be pro-competitive and further innovation, leading to improved patient outcomes and greater access to quality care,” UnitedHealth said Tuesday in a statement. “We will vigorously defend against the DOJ’s overreaching interpretation of the antitrust laws.”
UnitedHealth is a “vertically integrated healthcare behemoth” that generated revenues of $372 billion in 2023, according to the complaint. “UnitedHealth’s proposed acquisition of Amedisys threatens to substantially lessen competition in local home health, hospice, and nurse labor markets throughout the country.”
The Justice Department, along with Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York, seek a permanent injunction preventing UnitedHealth from consummating its proposed acquisition of Amedisys.
Attorneys for the United States also seek civil penalties against Amedisys on allegations that the hospice care provider violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 from December 2023 to August 2024.
Amedisys is accused of submitting “erroneous and inaccurate” data to federal regulators and certifying that it had complied with an information request from the DOJ’s antitrust division. The company could face a civil penalty of nearly $52,000 per day for each day of its alleged noncompliance with the HSR Act, according to the complaint.
This action was surfaced by Law.com Radar, which delivers artificial intelligence-enhanced case summaries and daily case reports from more than 2,200 state and federal courts. Click here to get started and be among the first to act on opportunities in your region, practice area or client sector.
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