Former Anthem lobbyist to be nominated to run DOJ’s antitrust division

The specific division of the U.S. Department of Justice that fought Anthem’s $54 billion acquisition of Cigna—and which the insurers is still pushing to approve the merger over antitrust concerns—could be run by a former Anthem lobbyist.

As Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported, veteran lobbyist Makan Delrahim is expected to be President Donald Trump’s choice to head the DOJ’s antitrust division. He worked in that section during the presidency of George W. Bush and currently serves as deputy White House counsel.

Before joining the Trump administration, Delrahim’s lobbying firm, Brownstein Farber, collected $370,000 in lobbying fees from Anthem. His job was to focus on “antitrust issues associated with Anthem's proposed acquisition of Cigna,” according to lobbying records obtained by the International Business Times.

He wouldn’t be allowed to have a direct impact on the Anthem-Cigna deal under the Trump administration’s ethics rules, which prohibit appointees like Delrahim from "participating in any particular matter on which [an individual] lobbied within the two years before the date of appointment.”

It could signal a dramatic change in antitrust enforcement between the Obama and Trump administrations. At the time Delrahim was lobbying for federal approval of the Anthem-Cigna merger, the man he’d be succeeding, Bill Baer, was arguing the deal would eliminate competition and give Anthem too much leverage over healthcare providers.

“Anthem claims that consumers will benefit if it becomes the 800-pound gorilla at the bargaining table, forcing cost concessions from doctors and hospitals without regard to the impact those concessions would have on the quality of medical care,” Baer said when the lawsuit against the Anthem-Cigna deal was announced.

The DOJ was successful in blocking that deal and the proposed merger between Aetna and Humana at the district court level. While Aetna and Humana decided to scrap their merger, Anthem has asked for an expedited appeal process to rescue it, even though Cigna is suing Anthem for $15 billion and seeking to end the deal.