Anthem confident, but experts see antitrust hurdles to Cigna deal

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) on Monday dismissed concerns that buying smaller competitor Cigna Corp (CI.N) would be considered anti-competitive, even as antitrust experts said the combination would earn regulatory scrutiny. Insurers have emerged from years of changes in health insurance under President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform law and are seeking now to use scale to trim administrative costs and negotiate lower prices with doctors in their networks. Anthem, which runs Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, disclosed on Saturday that it had offered to buy Cigna for $47 billion but said the deal was held up over issues like the role of Cigna's CEO at the merged company.

Anthem confident, but experts see antitrust hurdles to Cigna deal source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/anthem-confident-experts-see-antitrust-204428334.html