Anthem asks Supreme Court to review deal

Health insurer Anthem is not ready to give up its $48 billion bid for rival Cigna and now hopes to find a favorable audience in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Anthem, the parent company of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer in Georgia and 12 other states, is asking the court to review last week’s rejection by a federal appeals court.

That court upheld a federal judge’s ruling that said the deal would further reduce competition in an already concentrated insurance market. The ruling was made earlier this year after regulators sued last summer to block the deal.

Even Cigna Corp. wants the deal to go away. The insurer has sued Anthem and is seeking billions of dollars in damages.

But Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc. said Friday that it hopes “1960sera merger precedents” the courts relied upon for its decision can be updated to reflect “the modern understanding of economics and consumer benefit.”

Anthem announced its Cigna bid in 2015. It has touted the deal as a way to help the companies negotiate better prices with pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctor groups. The company also has said the acquisition would help cut expenses and add more customers, which allows insurers to spread out the cost of investing in technology to manage and improve care.

In Tennessee, Anthem Inc. would add thousands of employees and tens of thousands of subscribers if it were to buy Cigna, which is already the second biggest commercial health insurer in the state behind

behind only Chattanooga-based BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.

But Anthem wouldn’t be able to market itself in Tennessee or Alabama with the Blue Cross brand. That brand belongs to independent Blue Cross plans in those states.

Critics of the merger include doctor and consumer groups aren’t comfortable with giving an insurer the power and leverage that would come from a huge acquisition. They have argued this combination will lead to fewer choices for insurance shoppers.

But supporters of the merger say in states such as Tennessee a combined Anthem and Cigna could offer more competition to market leaders such as BlueCross.

Industry experts have suggested any consumer impact from the deal would take years to materialize and could lead to savings in some areas but higher costs elsewhere.

Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked another big insurance deal, Aetna Inc.’s roughly $34 billion acquisition of Medicare Advantage coverage provider Humana Inc. Aetna then said it was abandoning its deal.