Here are five takeaways:
1. The hearing took place in the Capitol Building convened by the California Department of Insurance and lasted six hours.
2. The hearing focused on the details of the large financial transaction as well some more broad questions about what might happen to market competition and premium costs when health insurance companies consolidate.
3. No one on the panel of academic experts and insurance executives could recall a time when consumer prices for health insurance or managed care went down after a health insurance or managed care merger.
4. The representatives at Centene and HealthNet insisted premiums were more likely to go down than up, based on efficiencies of uniting the two companies.
5. The deadline to submit comments to the Department of Insurance about the proposed acquisition is Jan. 29, 2016.
More articles on coding, billing & collections:
ICD-10 documentation tips: Top 10 diagnosis codes in anesthesiology
Healthcare penalty may reach $695 — 4 observations
HHS: Agency will move 30% of fee-for-service Medicare payments to value-based payments by end of 2016
