HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut Insurance Department regulators will get a chance to weigh in next month on CVS Health’s intention to acquire Hartford-based Aetna for $70 billion.
The hearing will be held 9 a.m., Oct. 4 in the Gershon Fox Ballroom at 960 Main Street in Hartford.
CVS has asked regulators to approve the deal, which is also being scrutinized by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is close to approving the deal, but has some concerns about competition in some areas related to Medicare drug coverage.
In its filings with the Connecticut Insurance Department, CVS Health says its proposed acquisition of Aetna will “neither reduce substantially competition in any line of business nor tend to create a monopoly in Connecticut. Rather, the transaction will deliver substantial public benefits such as improved health outcomes and lower health care spending by consumers in Connecticut and throughout the United States.”
The merger will marry CVS stores with the third largest U.S. insurer and allow them to use the retail locations as sort of an Apple Genius bar for access to health care.
“The combination of CVS Health and Aetna will create a health care platform that invigorates the consumer health care experience by allowing for easier and more frequent access to high-quality care in lower-cost settings, meeting patients where they are, and engaging with them as part of their daily lives and routines,” according to its filing with regulators.
The merger announced last December has been pitched by executives at the two companies as a “front door to health care.”
The public will also have a chance to weigh in on the proposal at the hearing.
