WASHINGTON (Reuters] – The Federal Judge hearing the Justice Department’s case against UnitedHealth Group (NYSE)’s $8B deal to purchase Change Healthcare (NASDAQ 🙂 announced on Thursday that it would begin August 1.

In February, the Justice Department sued to block the agreement. It claimed that it would allow the U.S.’s largest health insurance company access to data from its rivals and increase healthcare costs.

Donald Trump appointed Judge Carl Nichols as his nominee. He stated that the trial would take place over 12 days. For the Justice Department, it will be seven days while for the businesses, five days.

Companies had requested that the trial start on June 20, while the government suggested starting it on August 24, as the recommendation of the government.

UnitedHealth and Change replied to the government’s complaints by saying that their concern about the deal was moot as they plan to sell Change’s claims editing company. This is a business that promises to increase payment accuracy and decrease appeals and to reap administrative and medical cost savings.

According to the companies, they said they will fight the government for the harm caused by the merger. The government claimed that UnitedHealth could misuse data from Change’s network to hoard innovation in order to sell health insurance to large corporations.

The companies replied to the government complaint that they believed the hypothetical speculation of plaintiffs about data and innovative solutions was a mistake and ignored market realities.

UnitedHealth announced in January 2021 the all cash deal, claiming it would simplify administrative and payment procedures.

UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare both offer different software to process healthcare claims and jointly serve 38 top-40 insurance companies in the nation, according to the Justice Department in the complaint. It stated that they would control at least 75%.