TGIF

CNBC reports that yesterday soon after the Justice Department announced that it would not seek an emergency stay of the court order permitting AT&T's merger with Time Warner, the deal between the two companies closed. Closing on the deal does not foreclose the government's right to appeal but an appeal is unlikely.  Meanwhile Forbes tells us that while the court decision in the AT&T case was a good sign for anti-trust regulatory approval of the CVS Health - Aetna merger, it was equally good news that the American Medical Association did not go on record against the merger at its recent House of Delegates meeting.

Healio informs us about the measures that the AMA's House of Delegates supported with respect to the Affordable Care Act at their recent meeting. Of note to the FEHBlog was the statement that

Due to concerns that insurers will leave some ACA marketplaces, AMA argued that a back-up plan is needed to ensure that patients have coverage options at all times. AMA advocated for the two largest Federal Employees Health Benefits Program insurers in counties without a marketplace plan to provide at least one silver-level marketplace plan.

Hey AMA, the FEHBP is an employer sponsored group health plan, not Medicaid. 

Finally, here's an interesting Forbes article on the immediate fall out from enactment of the federal Right to Try law.