Dr. Theodosia Stavroulaki is a Jaharis Faculty fellow at DePaul University College of Law. Dr. Stavroulaki teaches and researches topics in Health Law, Public Health, and Anti-Trust law, and has published work in World Competition, Law & Economics Review, Loyola Consumer Law Review, CPI Antitrust Chronicle and the American Journal of Law & Medicine. Her presentation focused on the major issues that arise when health insurance companies merge with powerful drug suppliers. Professor Stavroulaki mentioned that when insurance companies, like Aetna, merge with drug companies like CVS, they can then use big data analytics to identify the likelihood and risks of certain diseases, and design health plans that will discourage high risk patients from purchasing their programs. She further discussed a blind spot in antitrust law, which is that it does not distinguish between different socio-economic groups. This poses a problem because by placing all consumers into one unidentifiable group, antitrust law fails to consider the effects of certain conduct on different consumers.

Dr. Stavroulaki further discussed three ways in which antitrust enforcers should consider the harm these mergers may impose. She first mentioned how vulnerable, high-risk consumers constitute a separate relevant market. Further she discussed how this type of merger will make it difficult for insurance companies to enter the market in the future, seeing as acquiring a retail pharmacy would be a prerequisite. Second, Dr. Stavroulaki suggested that antitrust enforcers can consider how the merger’s negative impact on high-risk consumers should weigh more heavily than its positive impact on low-risk ones, notwithstanding that the net effect of the merger should be assessed. Finally, the proposed merger may facilitate health insurer’s efforts to violate the Affordable Care Act that prohibits discriminatory premium rates. On the other hand, she mentioned the merger might allow for the identification of patients who are not being properly treated in order to provide them with access to the care they require. Dr. Stavroulaki provided an insightful and interesting view into mergers that harm our health.