The proposed merger of the pharmacy chain CVS and insurance company Aetna would harm competition, lead to higher drug spending and out-of-pocket spending, and should be blocked, AMA President Barbara L. McAneny, MD, said yesterday in testimony at a California Department of Insurance hearing.

“After very careful consideration over the past months, the AMA has come to the conclusion that this merger would likely substantially lessen competition in many health care markets, to the detriment of patients,” Dr. McAneny said at the hearing called for by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “The AMA is now convinced that the proposed CVS-Aetna merger should be blocked.”

My latest at AMA Wire. The whole shebang.

This was one of the busiest meetings of the American Medical Association’s policymaking body, the House of Delegates, that I can recall.  And I’ve been covering these meetings on and off since 2005. As a result, I had plenty to write about for AMA Wire. You can check out the articles below.

• Top 10 stories from the 2018 AMA Annual Meeting
• Health care AI holds promise, but physicians’ perspective needed
• AMA puts its organizational muster behind health equity push
• Physicians adopt plan to combat pay gap in medicine
• Doctors oppose policy that splits kids from caregivers at border
• Physicians seek to expand LGBTQ access to family and medical leave
• Physician obligations don’t end when patients pursue care abroad