September 11, 2015 – AMA’S ANALYSES OF PROPOSED INSURANCE MERGERS

STATEMENT FROM MSSNY PRESIDENT JOSEPH MALDONADO, MD IN RESPONSE TO AMA’S ANALYSES OF PROPOSED INSURANCE MERGERS

“Today’s announcement by the American Medical Association analyzing the consequences of the proposed consolidation of the health insurance industry is a clarion call to our federal and state regulators to closely review the patient care implications of these proposed mergers.

Undoubtedly, the merger of Anthem (the parent of Empire BC/BS) with Cigna, and Aetna with Humana, will give these companies far greater market power to reduce physician and hospital choice for our patients by further restricting networks and moving towards more burdensome administrative requirements as a precondition of our patients receiving needed care.

In addition to preventing these mergers from going forward, policymakers need to enable physicians to better advocate on their patients’ behalf by enacting legislation (A.336, Gottfried S.1157, Hannon) to permit independently practicing physicians to come together to negotiate patient care terms with health insurers in regions where just a few plans dominate the delivery of care.”

Joseph R. Maldonado, Jr., MD, MSc, MBA, DipEBHC
President, Medical Society of the State of New York