On February 24, 2022, the United States Department of Justice, along with the states of Minnesota and New York, filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to enjoin UnitedHealth Group’s (“United”) proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare, Inc. (“Change”).
United owns the country’s largest health insurer and Change is the leading source of key technologies that United’s health insurance competitors rely on to compete with United. As such, the complaint alleges that the proposed acquisition is likely to substantially reduce competition in the relevant health insurance markets by giving United access to its rivals’ competitively sensitive information, by giving United the ability and incentive to raise its rivals’ costs, and by tending to create a monopoly in first-pass claims editing solutions. The complaint further alleges that this reduced competition would result in lower quality, less innovation, or higher prices. Because a substantial lessening of competition in any relevant market is a violation of section 7 of the Clayton Act, the suit seeks to enjoin consummation of the acquisition, which had been scheduled to take place on February 27, 2022.
The attorneys at Whatley Kallas, LLP will continue to follow this case and will report on important developments. The complaint is linked here.