DOJ Sues to Block UnitedHealth Group’s Acquisition of Amedisys
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a November 12 press release that it, together with the Attorneys General of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block UnitedHealth Group’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of the Louisiana-based home health and hospice services provider Amedisys Inc.
Allegedly, the transaction would eliminate competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys (the Defendants). “Since UnitedHealth’s prior acquisition of Amedisys’s home health and hospice rival LHC Group Inc. in 2023, Defendants have been two of the largest home health and hospice providers in the United States,” the press brief stated. “Eliminating the competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys would harm patients who receive home health and hospice services, insurers who contract for home health services, and nurses who provide home health and hospice services.”
“The Justice Department will not hesitate to check unlawful consolidation and monopolization in the healthcare market that threatens to harm vulnerable patients, their families, and healthcare workers,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division stated, “American healthcare is unwell. Unless this $3.3 billion transaction is stopped, UnitedHealth Group will further extend its grip to home health and hospice care, threatening seniors, their families, and nurses.”
According to the complaint, Amedisys’s former CEO and current Board Chairman has acknowledged that the “pure competition” between UnitedHealth and Amedisys helps them “keep each other honest” and “drive better and better quality” to the benefit of their patients.
The news brief noted that to address some of the overlaps between UnitedHealth and Amedisys, UnitedHealth has proposed to divest certain facilities to VitalCaring Group. However, the complaint alleged that the proposed divestiture does not alleviate harm in over 100 home health, hospice, and labor markets.
