Win McNamee/Getty Images
U.S. President Barack Obama greets doctors in the Rose Garden following an event at the White House on October 5, 2009 in Washington, DC promoting his health care plan
The Department of Justice will attempt to block both the $54 billion deal between Anthem and Cigna, which would create the largest health insurance company based on the number of people covered, and a $37 billion take over of Humana by Aetna.
Both of the deals are being blocked on anti-competitive grounds, Bloomberg said, citing sources within the Justice Department. The number of different health insurers offered in a given area has been directly linked to the price of insurance. Thus, allowing four of the five largest insurers to combine may cause an increase in prices.
According to the report, the lawsuits could come as soon as the end of the week and will be done by the end of July.
The deals had already faced regulatory pushback from Democratic US Senators, who recommended that the DOJ reject the mergers.
Immediately following the report, the stock prices for all four companies fell into negative territory.
More to come...