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Aetna Inc. executives on Monday jousted with Justice Department lawyers over the health insurer’s reasons for sharply cutting its participation in Affordable Care Act exchanges, a potentially important issue in the antitrust trial over Aetna’s proposed merger with Humana Inc. (Kendall and Viswanatha, 12/12)

The Justice Department on Monday attacked Aetna's long-held position that its decision to withdraw from Obamacare insurance marketplaces this year wasn’t motivated by the government’s lawsuit blocking the insurer’s $37 billion purchase of Humana. Aetna maintained it exited the marketplaces because of financial concerns, but government lawyers at a hearing on the merger pointed to internal company discussions linking departures in three states to the federal lawsuit. The company withdrew from 11 state marketplaces in all this year. (Cancryn, 12/12)

Justice Department attorneys on Monday continued to try to undercut arguments by Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini that his company’s Medicare Advantage program competes with government-run Medicare. The government’s lawyers also spent the day using  Aetna’s internal documents and emails to try to prove the insurer’s decision to leave Affordable Care Act marketplaces was driven by the U.S. lawsuit against its planned merger with Humana. (Radelat, 12/12)

The U.S. Justice Department sought on Monday to knock down arguments by Aetna Inc's chief executive that Medicare Advantage competes with government insurance programs, making Aetna's proposed merger with Humana legal under antitrust law. Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini testified on Friday and returned to the witness stand Monday morning. The Justice Department sued to stop the merger in July. (Bartz, 12/12)