Assemblyman and 22nd District Congressional candidate Anthony Brindisi is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to block the proposed merger of CVS Health and Aetna insurance.

Brindisi says allowing the merger would create an entity too large to effectively regulate and one that likely violates federal anti-trust regulations.

He was joined at Parkway Drugs in North Utica by representatives of area independent pharmacies, who he says would be significantly affected by the merger.

“CVS and Aetna want us to believe that this merger will be good for patients and will lower medication and healthcare costs,” said Vincent Chiffy, co-owner of Parkway Drugs in Utica. “In fact, the opposite is true. CVS Health is the seventh largest corporation in the U.S. Aetna is the fifth largest health insurance company. When the largest health plan insurer, the largest pharmacy benefits plan manager and the largest pharmacy retail chain in the country combine, the result is a classic example of the ‘fox guarding the hen house.’ There’s no incentive to compete because the conglomerate will have little competition and who will pay the price in the end are the patients.”

Brindisi will face Congresswoman Claudia Tenney in the November election.

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