The Wall Street Journal called insurers the “new 800 poundgorilla” in an article Wednesday, analyzing the leverage theindustry’s biggest players have gained through pending mergers.

In case you forgot, Anthem seeks to buy Cigna for$48 billion, while Aetna seeks to buy Humana for $34billion, although both deals still need to be approved by federalregulators.

Consumer advocates worry that such mergers will make theinsurance marketplace uncompetitive, and studies have shown thatconsumers in many areas of the country do not have many insuranceoptions.

In response, insurers have emphasized the potential benefits oftheir mammoth sizes, notably their ability to leverage theirresources to negotiate better deals with hospitals, doctors, anddrug companies for the cost of services and pills.

In the wake of public outcry over the skyrocketing cost of manyprescription drugs, there may be more appetite than usual for biginsurance companies, so long as they use their strength to bullypharmaceutical companies. Of course, drug companies will no doubtraise the prospect that insurers with too much power could make thedrug industry less profitable and make it harder to attractinvestment for research into new or better medicine.

A recent demonstration of Anthem’s might comes from a $15 billion lawsuit itlaunched against Express Scripps Holding, a pharmacy benefitcompany. Anthem contends Express Scripps bilked it of billions byovercharging for medications.

The Journal notes that it is anybody’s guess whether the suitwill be successful, or whether Anthem will settle for asubstantially lower amount of money, but the announcement alreadydid plenty of damage to Express Scripps, whose stock has declinedby 20 percent since Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish first suggestedpublicly in January that his company was owed money.