In her first remarks about the deal, she expressed "serious concern" about the proposed union, as well as one between Cigna and Anthem. Clinton is urging regulators to closely scrutinize the mergers.
"I’m worried that the balance of power is moving too far away from consumers,’’ Clinton said in a statement provided by a campaign official.
"Companies proposing to merge bear the heavy burden of demonstrating that consumers will benefit,’’ said Clinton, noting that "too often the companies end up pocketing profits rather than passing savings to consumers.’’
Aetna and Humana shareholders voted Monday to approve the two companies’ merger, but like the Cigna-Anthem deal still must be approved by antitrust enforcers.
n her statement, Clinton said the companies should "commit to passing on savings and efficiencies to consumers as lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs.’’
Her comments are part of a broader health care agenda focused on the need to lower prescription drug and other out-of-pocket health care costs.
As she attempts to strengthen her position in the Democratic presidential field, Clinton is appealing to her party’s progressive base that has made reining in corporate excess, particularly on Wall Street, a top priority.
n the first Democratic debate last week in Las Vegas, Clinton mentioned health insurers among the top enemies she’s made during her political career, listing them before the Iranians and Republicans.
Clinton’s strongest competitor, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is a self-described democratic socialist who blames growing income inequality and corporate greed, or what he’s called "casino-type capitalism’’ — including tax policies favoring the wealthy — for the nation’s economic struggles.
While Clinton is less adversarial in her approach to corporate America, she is trying to strike a similarly populist tone. On Tuesday, Clinton wrote an opinion editorial titled "Being pro-business doesn’t mean hanging consumers out to dry’’ that outlines problems she thinks are needed to "fix’’ the capitalist system in America.
According to Clinton, this includes: pharmaceutical companies gouging patients on drugs they provide for cheaper in other countries; airlines overcharging passengers even as oil prices fall; and local monopolies’’ that cause higher prices for high-speed broadband.
"Rather than offering better products for lower prices, they are using their power to raise prices, limit choices for consumers, lower wages for workers and hold back competition from startups and small businesses,’’ Clinton wrote in Quartz .
Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said Clinton is complaining "about the side effects of Obamacare while she continues to stand by this failed and unpopular law.''
"One really has to wonder whether Hillary Clinton is simply trying to have it both ways on health care or if this is a back-door strategy to bring about single payer,'' Short said in a statement.
In wading into the debate over the insurance company mega mergers, Clinton joins a number of consumer groups, lawmakers and groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association , who’ve expressed concern that the deals would limit consumer choice and lead to an unhealthy concentration in a number of local markets.
Massive consolidation among hospitals and physician groups is one of the driving factors behind the insurer mergers. Yet with less competition, consumer groups say it will be easier for companies to offer inferior plans with higher premiums.
USA TODAY has found that areas with this little insurer competition tended to have the highest deductibles in states that use the federal HealthCare.gov exchange.
Neither deal is expected to close until at least mid-2016. That means they won't affect insurance premiums or plan choices until 2017 at the earliest.
After the shareholder vote Monday, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said the merger would offer consumers a “a broader choice of products, access to higher quality and more affordable care, and a better overall experience in more geographic locations across the country.”
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