Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. were down 1.7% in trading on Thursday after the Justice Department said it is suing to stop the health care company’s $13 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare Inc. . Change’s stock was up 1.9% in trading on Thursday. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Justice Department and attorneys general in Minnesota and New York, alleges that the deal will dampen competition among commercial health insurers and give UnitedHealth access to competitive data gathered by a tool used to process claims. “Unless the deal is blocked, United stands to see and potentially use its health insurance rivals’ competitively sensitive information for its own business purposes and control these competitors’ access to innovations in vital health care technology,” the Justice Department’s Doha Mekki said in a news release. The deal was announced in early 2021. Over the past year, UnitedHealth’s stock is up 35.9%, while Change shares are down 10.5%. The broader S&P 500 has gained 8.8% in the same time period.
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