Regulators Need to Scrutinize Health Insurance Mergers

[N'Zinga Shani]

Regulators Need to Scrutinize Health Insurance Mergers; so wrote the New York Times Editorial Board. this point cannot be overstated.

It's also important that Consumers and Advocacy Groups pay close attention! 

Health Insurance companies are trying to circumvent the ACA and price gouge consumers.  Two proposed mergers will reduce competition, raise premiums and shut many people out of affordable health insurance.

"Earlier this summer, Anthem agreed to acquire Cigna for $48 billion, and Aetna announced a $37 billion takeover of Humana. The antitrust division of the Justice Department and state governments are reviewing the deals. If regulators approve both transactions, the number of big national health insurers would drop from five to three." Lack of competition will raise premiums and make health care unaffordable to millions of Americans.

WE SHOULD NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

Unions, churches, employers and other organizations NEED to get ahead of these schemes. ALL Americans should have access to AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE. Have we stated the point more than once? Yes! it's that important.

Please read the NY Times Editorial Board's comments linked here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/14/opinion/regulators-need-to-scruti...?  

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[N'Zinga Shani]

We at OneWorld Progressive Institute. Inc, ask everyone to read the Times editorial and to SHARE it with others. This is very important. Access to affordable health care is an imperative.  We are the number one country in many ways; we are about #37 in access to affordable health care; www.oneworldpi.org/

Before the full roll-out of the ACA, America ranked last among industrialized countries in access to affordable care.  Since the full implementation of the ACA, we have improved significantly. Read about that here: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/24/3584363/american-health-...  " Two Johns Hopkins University researchers included the survey in a perspective analysis that appeared in the Oct. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine."