By James Detar, Investor's Business Daily
Posted 11/09/2012 07:05 PM ET
Aetna (AET) said Friday its proposed $5.6 billion acquisition of Coventry Health Care (CVH) has come under increased scrutiny by Justice Department antitrust regulators, who asked the companies for more information related to their deal.
The country's third-largest health insurer, with 18.2 million members, Aetna is seeking to add Coventry's nearly 1 million members in its Medicaid business and about 250,000 in Medicare Advantage.
With the election settled, ObamaCare is expected to continue to roll out, bringing millions more people under the government-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide medical care to older people and those without funds.
Aetna still expects to close the deal in mid-2013.
Neither Aetna nor Coventry were immediately available to comment.
Aetna shares fell less than 1% Friday to 42.12. Coventry dipped fractionally, to 42.91.
Elsewhere in the Medical-Managed Care group, ranked No. 18 on the list of 197 industry groups IBD tracks, giant WellPoint (WLP), with more than 34 million members, edged up 0.3% to 56.16.
WellPoint is also in the midst of a proposed acquisition, seeking to buy health insurer Amerigroup (AGP). It received a request from antitrust regulators in September for additional information related to the deal. It said it would sell its managed care operations in Virginia as part of the purchase.
WellPoint reported Wednesday that third-quarter profit grew 18% to $2.09 a share, beating forecasts by 25 cents. Revenue slid 2% to $15.13 billion, falling short of Wall Street's outlook for $15.31 billion.
Humana (HUM), which was downgraded by Goldman Sachs this week, fell 0.6% Friday to 68.77.
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