Washington, D.C. — In response to news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division has proposed a settlement allowing UnitedHealth Group’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys to proceed, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The DOJ was right to challenge this deal, which would eliminate head-to-head competition that lowers costs, improves care quality, and betters working conditions for nurses and other caregivers,” said Emma Freer, Senior Policy Analyst for Health Care at the American Economic Liberties Project. “This settlement abandons that goal and caves to UnitedHealth Group, one of the most dangerous monopolists in American health care. It claims to divest home health and hospice care providers in overlapping markets but, in actuality, cedes them to similarly conflicted buyers, including a highly-leveraged private-equity firm. As a result, Big Medicine will profit at the expense of vulnerable hospice patients, some of whom will pay with their lives, and the workers who care for them.”

The settlement requires UnitedHealth and Amedisys to divest certain home health and hospice care providers in overlapping markets to BrightSpring Health Services and the Pennant Group, which also operate in some of the same markets.

BrightSpring is owned by the private-equity firm KKR, which is fending off a separate DOJ Antitrust Division lawsuit for repeatedly violating federal premerger review law. Inspections of its group homes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities also reveal “serious regulatory violations” related to resident care, abuse, neglect, and poorly trained and understaffed caregivers. The Pennant Group owners include the private health system Ascension, which previously settled with the DOJ to resolve allegations of immigration-related discrimination, and the private-equity firm Towerbrook Capital Partners. Last year, the DOJ Antitrust Division, along with other federal agencies, launched an investigation into private-equity and other corporate owners’ increasing control of healthcare providers, citing harms to patients’ health, workers’ safety, quality of care, and affordability.

The DOJ also boasts that Amedisys will pay a $1.1 million fine for lying about the $3.3 billion acquisition – a 0.04% surcharge – while allowing the transaction to proceed.

“The DOJ Antitrust Division can either do the bidding of Big Medicine or protect older Americans, hospice patients, and nurses,” added Freer. “This settlement makes its choice abundantly clear.”

Listed fourth on the Fortune 500, UnitedHealth Group is a healthcare giant. It is the nation’s largest health insurer, physician employer, and health insurance claims processor; second-largest health savings account provider; third-largest pharmacy benefit manager; and fourth-largest pharmacy operator. In 2023, UnitedHealth Group acquired LHC Group, a major provider in home health care, and now seeks to acquire Amedisys, a direct competitor in key regions, particularly the South, where the two companies would no longer compete for business or labor, opening the door to potential price hikes, service reductions, and job cuts.

UnitedHealth Group has a documented history of prioritizing its financial interests over patient welfare, often at the expense of competition and independent providers. It has been accused of violating antitrust laws, denying claims for medically necessary care, squeezing independent pharmacies and physician practices out of business, manipulating data to maximize its profits, and paying nursing homes to reduce patient hospital transfers. The DOJ unsuccessfully attempted to block UHG’s acquisition of Change Healthcare in 2022, citing anticompetitive risks; later, a cyberattack on Change paralyzed patient access to care and strained medical practices. The FTC also recently sued UHG’s PBM, OptumRx, for allegedly inflating insulin prices through an illegal rebate scheme. With this record of harmful practices, UHG’s consolidation of the home healthcare market raises significant concerns for patients and providers alike. Along with this lawsuit, the DOJ is investigating UnitedHealth Group for alleged monopolization and civil and criminal Medicare billing fraud and also recently forced the company to abandon two attempted provider acquisitions.

Learn more about the push to Break Up Big Medicine here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.