Justice Department and four Attorneys General block $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys Inc.

The Justice Department and four Attorneys General have blocked UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys Inc.

The Attorneys General of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York joined the blockade alongside the legal watchdog of the United States government, saying that the deal threatens to “negatively affect care for vulnerable patients and harm home health and hospice nurses critical to providing that care.”

“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,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys Inc. blocked

The bodies filed the civil antitrust lawsuit in the District of Maryland, alleging that the transaction would eliminate competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys, two titans in the United States market for home healthcare.

UnitedHealth acquired LHC Group Inc. (LHC) in 2023, one of the then largest competitors to UnitedHealth and Amedisys. A similar move to take over Amedisys would further dilute the competition amongst nursing staff, health services, and insurers nationwide.

“American healthcare is unwell. Unless this $3.3 billion transaction is stopped, UnitedHealth Group will further extend its grip to home health and hospice care, threatening seniors, their families and nurses,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “I want to thank my colleagues at the Antitrust Division for their tireless efforts to fight on behalf of Americans for a competitive economy.”

A former CEO and current Board Chairman of Amedisys has acknowledged in the details of the complaint that the “pure competition” between UnitedHealth and Amedisys helps them “keep each other honest” and “driv[e] better and better quality” to the benefit of their patients.”

One of the major concerns for the legal regulators and Attorneys General involved is UnitedHealth’s projected market share of the current healthcare market post-merger. The complainers against the deal say this would be “presumptively illegal.”

The Justice Department is concerned that the merger fails to protect the interests of “100 home health, hospice, and labor markets, which generate at least a billion dollars in revenue annually, serve at least 200,000 patients, and employ at least 4,000 nurses.”

It remains to be seen whether the measures taken by the complainers will prevail, but regardless of the result, their efforts will define the future of the healthcare market across America.

Image: Pixlr.

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