Anthem Inc. and the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday presentedcontrasting visions of the health care industry in the ramp up totrial in the government’s push to block the insurance company’sproposed $54 billion deal to acquire Cigna Corp.

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The opposing sides, locked in a bitter dispute in the U.S.District Court for the District of Columbia, submitted their“pre-trial briefs” to the presiding judge, Amy Berman Jackson, whohas set trial for Nov. 21. Antitrust enforcers in July sued to stopthe merger, which Justice Department officials said would raise insurancepremiums and lower the quality of health care.

That dire prediction, of course, is not shared by Anthem’slawyers at White & Case and Arnold & Porter.

“The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and ahandful of state AGs seek to enjoin a merger they acknowledge islikely to reduce healthcare costs for millions of workingAmericans,” Anthem’s attorneys said in their court paperson Thursday.

Related: Anthem's desperate bid to save Cignaacquisition

Anthem’s lawyers, including White & Case’s ChristopherCurran, called the Justice Department’s antitrust suit “anextraordinary action in which federal and state competitionauthorities are, according to their own allegations, seeking todeprive American consumers of lower healthcare costs.”

Lawyers for Anthem said the government at trial cannot show themerger will cause a “substantial lessening” of competition in thehealth care insurance arena.

“Anthem will establish that its proposed merger with Cigna wouldbe a decidedly procompetitive transaction, bringing lowerhealthcare costs—as well as greater innovation—to millions,”Anthem’s attorneys wrote.

The Justice Department has alleged Anthem’s acquisition of Cignawould hurt competition for millions of consumers who receivecommercial insurance from large national employers, as well as fromlarge-group employers in at least 35 metropolitan areas and frompublic exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act.

In the DOJ brief Thursday, the Justice Department saidit needs only to show a substantial loss to competition in one ofthose markets.

“Plaintiffs will clear that standard by a wide margin,”government lawyers said in their court filing.

The Justice Department said at trial it will present “extensiveevidence that the merger is likely to have serious anticompetitiveeffects in dozens of markets—increasing Anthem’s market power,raising prices of health-insurance plans, forcing down payments tohealthcare providers, and reducing the availability and quality ofhealthcare services—harming consumers and healthcare providersalike.”

Jackson has suggested she will split the trial into two parts,considering the merger's effect on the national market beforehearing arguments on its effect on local markets. In September,Jackson said she might give a preliminary decision after the firstphase, but she would not hand down a final decision untilJanuary.