The federalgovernment is readying lawsuits aimed at blocking Anthem Inc.'s dealfor Cigna Corp. and 's planned of Humana Inc., Bloomberg News reported July 19, citing a personfamiliar with the matter.

The attemptsto derail the multibillion-dollar mergers will be based on the U.S. Department ofJustice's belief that the healthcare consolidation would harm customers. The agencyfor the past several months has conducted antitrust reviews of the deals, whichwould shrink the number of large publicly traded health insurers from five to three.

The JusticeDepartment's final verdict on the proposed transactions could come as soon as thisweek, Bloomberg News reported.