Aetna has recorded a loss for the first quarter of the year, of $381 million, due to costs associated to its planned merger with Humana. The merger was blocked by a federal judge in January for threatening to harm competition in Medicare Advantage.

According to a Modern Healthcare report, the $37 billion merger — which cost Aetna $1 billion as a breakup fee paid to Humana — was expensive on plenty of other fronts, including millions in legal and financial fees. The deal was expected to pressure Aetna's bottom line lower, but despite all the outlay — and additional losses from the company's exchanges under the Affordable Care Act — the Q1 results still beat Wall Street's financial estimates at $737 million.

Aetna had also paid $52.5 million as a breakup fee to Medicaid managed-care insurer Molina Healthcare; Molina had agreed to purchase divested Medicare Advantage assets from Aetna and Humana to satisfy Justice Department concerns.

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