The Department of Justice on Tuesday sued to prevent UnitedHealth Group from buying Amedisys, a deal the government said would hurt competition by uniting two of the country’s largest home health and hospice chains.
The DOJ’s lawsuit, which is joined by the attorneys general from Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, is one of the agency’s most aggressive actions to halt UnitedHealth from moving further into the delivery of health care. It follows the agency’s failed attempt to block UnitedHealth from acquiring a large technology company in 2022.
Antitrust enforcers said the deal is “presumptively anticompetitive and illegal” because UnitedHealth previously acquired LHC Group, which directly competes with Amedisys and was the country’s third largest home health provider at the time that deal closed in February 2023. If the new deal goes through, the government’s lawsuit says UnitedHealth would control at least 30% of the home health or hospice markets in eight states. It would expand the company’s presence in those services to an additional five states, and to almost 500 locations across 32 states where it already competes.
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