Washington, D.C. - Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) sent a letter to Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) today requesting that he schedule a hearing on Cigna’s recently proposed plan to acquire Express Scripts for $67 billion and CVS’s proposed merger with Aetna for $69 billion that was announced last December.
Pallone’s request comes after a recent Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing where witnesses overwhelmingly emphasized concern for harm to consumers as the health care industry continues to consolidate, including “mega-mergers" such as those proposed by Cigna-Express and CVS-Aetna. Pallone also has concerns about the ongoing trend of consolidation and transformation in America’s health care system, which shows no signs of slowing down.
“The Committee has an ongoing responsibility to evaluate and consider these changes to our health care system, so as to better understand the impact of these changes on consumers, patients, and providers," Pallone wrote to Chairman Walden. “Due to the scale of the proposed Cigna-Express Scripts and CVS-Aetna deals, these changes should be thoroughly scrutinized and understood by the members of this Committee. To best understand the matter, it would be in this Committee’s best interest to hear directly from representatives of the companies involved, in addition to other perspectives."
