Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Anthem Answers Cigna's Lawsuit With One Of Its Own
Health insurers Anthem and Cigna are now trading lawsuits instead of working together to salvage a shaky $48-billion buyout agreement. The Blue Cross-Blue Shield carrier Anthem said Wednesday that it is seeking a restraining order to block its smaller rival from terminating their deal, which has already been blocked by a federal judge. (2/15)
In its suit, filed like Cigna鈥檚 in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Anthem said it sought a temporary restraining order to block Cigna from ending their pact. It also sought to force Cigna to adhere to the terms of their deal and requested damages. Anthem said it was reacting to 鈥淐igna鈥檚 campaign to sabotage the merger and to try to deflect attention from its repeated willful breaches of the merger agreement.鈥 (Wilde Mathews, 2/15)
The messy divorce between Anthem and Cigna took another turn Wednesday in a Delaware court that will be the scene of further聽expensive legal battling over the insurers鈥 merger attempt. Anthem on Wednesday filed a temporary restraining order in Delaware鈥檚 chancery court against a lawsuit Cigna lawsuit filed Tuesday aimed at ending the merger agreement, collecting a $1.85 billion breakup fee and seeking at least $13 billion in damages from Anthem. (Radelat, 2/15)