Kentucky insurance commissioner Brian Maynard announced Feb. 10 that he had approved Aetna’s plan to purchase Humana. Maynard’s decision is being criticized as impulsive, as not only was the plan approved without a public hearing, but the Office of the Insurance Commissioner did not wait for a final report from the economists hired to analyze the deal.
Purportedly, one of the economists claimed that they discussed their findings with the department’s staff over the phone, but the report had not been prepared yet.
When asked why there was no public hearing over the decision to approve Aetna’s plan to acquire Humana, Maynard deemed the process unnecessary—a “time-consuming exercise that would have resulted in additional expense being passed on to the consumer.”
Common Cause of Kentucky chairman Richard Beliles called out Maynard’s impetuous approval and was disappointed at how the approval process was handled. Beliles added that the decision to immediately approve the deal without hearing the opinions of the public and interest groups made no sense—especially when a merger of the two largest health insurance companies in the country was at stake.
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State records reveal Maynard signed an order of approval on Feb. 3.
"After thorough review by internal financial staff and outside economists, we found no reason to deny or delay the approval. Our review concluded there would be no adverse impact on consumers. In fact, all indications are that overall competition in Kentucky’s health insurance market is strong," Maynard remarked in a written statement.
Kentucky’s insurance department contracted Georgia State University’s William Custer, director of the Center for Health Services Research, and Robert Klein, associate professor and director of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance, to analyze the deal’s data and make recommendations. As of Feb. 10, the two had yet to complete an initial draft of their report.
