Here are five takeaways:
1. Mr. Maynard said a public hearing would be “time-consuming” and “an unnecessary formality.” Mr. Maynard signed an order of approval for the deal on Feb. 3.
2. Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky, a nonpartisan watchdog group, disagrees with the decision, which he called “disappointing.”
3. State and federal regulations require insurance commissions in any state where the companies do business to examine an acquisition for market overlaps and impacts on prices and options for consumers. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice must approve the deal.
4. In summer 2015, Kentucky’s insurance department contracted William Custer, director of the Georgia State University’s Center for Health Services Research, and Robert Klein, PhD, an associate professor and director of that university’s Center for Risk Management and Insurance, to help with the analysis of the Aetna-Humana deal.
5. Klein and Custer said they had not yet completed an initial draft of their report for Kentucky. However, the Kentucky’s insurance agency said it felt no need to wait for a final report. In an emailed statement the agency wrote, “Staff communicated with the economists on a regular basis and information provided indicated there was no reason to disapprove the merger.”
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