STAT+: Kaiser Permanente, Geisinger to merge into national health system

Kaiser Permanente and Geisinger have agreed to combine into a new national not-for-profit system that encompasses health insurance, hospitals, and medical groups.

The mega-deal marks the biggest proposed health care merger in recent memory, potentially bringing together two systems that operate on different sides of the country but have taken similar approaches to managing patients’ health care in a closed delivery system. It also will be the biggest test yet to see if state and federal antitrust enforcers buy the argument that cross-market hospital and insurance mergers won’t hurt consumers and won’t thwart competition.

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