Louisiana saw the biggest drop in competition levels among health insurers between 2010 and 2013, and the proposed mergers of several large insurers will make for an even less competitive market here if they’re completed, the American Medical Association says in a new report.
The AMA released its updated edition of the Competition in Health Insurance: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Markets report this morning, with special focus on the announced plans for Anthem to acquire Cigna and a proposal by Aetna to buy Humana.
While the Anthem-Cigna merger would reduce competition across 85 metro areas in 13 states, not including Louisiana, AMA says the Aetna-Humana merger would diminish competition across 58 metro areas within 14 states, including Louisiana.
“The prospect of reducing five national health insurance carriers to just three should be viewed in the context of the unprecedented lack of competition that already exists in most health insurance markets,” says the AMA in a news release, which has more details on the report.
AMA notes that Louisiana is ranked as having the nation’s seventh-least competitive health insurance marketplace in the nation.
