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November 30, 2018 at 08:37 PM
A federal judge in Washington warned CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. not to integrate operations after learning CVS closed its acquisition of the health insurer before obtaining court approval of an antitrust settlement the companies reached with the government.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blasted the companies and the Justice Department at a court hearing Thursday for treating him like a “rubber stamp.” He complained he was “being kept in the dark, kind of like a mushroom.”
“You need to slow this down,” Leon told Justice Department lawyer Jay Owen. “You’re like a freight train out of control. And you’re operating as if this is just some rubber-stamp operation. It is not, and it will not be.”
(Related: CVS Health Now Owns Aetna)
CVS closed the $68 billion Aetna acquisition on Wednesday after receiving final regulatory approvals. The combination will create a health care giant with a hand in insurance, prescription-drug benefits and drugstores across the U.S.
The Justice Department cleared the deal in October after requiring the sale of Aetna’s Medicare prescription-drug plans to WellCare Health Plans Inc. The sale is intended to address the government’s concerns that the merger would otherwise harm competition between CVS and Aetna.
DOJ Consent
CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, said in a statement the closing of the deal was done with the “full knowledge and consent” of the Justice Department and was in compliance with the federal law governing court approvals of merger settlements, known as the Tunney Act.
