An important state Senate committee is expected to give a thumbs-down to the prospective merger between Pittsburgh's Highmark Inc. and Philadelphia's Independence Blue Cross.

When it meets later today, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee plans to consider two separate resolutions -- the first will urge the state's Insurance Commissioner, Joel Ario, to strike down the merger:

The committee "recommends the Pennsylvania Insurance Department disapprove the proposed merger," reads a rough version of the resolution, which goes on to say that the merger would violate three of the seven approval standards stipulated by the Insurance Holding Company Act. The second of the resolutions will ask Mr. Ario to attach some conditions to the merger, if indeed he approves it.

The merger would create the seventh-largest health insurance company in the country.

Republicans control the state Senate, and thus that panel, and all of the Republicans on the committee are expected to support the resolutions. That means they'd win a majority whether or not any Democrats agree.

The panel's recommendations are not binding, though, and while Mr. Ario will take the opinion of the panel under advisement, he doesn't have to agree with it.

"It is another step in the comprehensive public review of the transaction. The decision to approve or disapprove the transaction rests solely with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department," said Highmark spokesman Michael Weinstein.

But Joe Pittman, chief of staff to state Sen. Don White, R-Indiana County, said he hopes Mr. Ario will "take that additional input very seriously."

Mr. White, chair of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, has been skeptical of the merger throughout, saying it would be "unconscionable" to recommend approval. But Highmark, Pittsburgh's largest health insurer by far, and IBC contend that the merger is needed so that the nonprofit Blues can compete with larger, for-profit insurers. The companies have said that the merger would result in $1 billion in administrative and capital savings over the first years of the new company's existence.

Opponents, including UPMC's health insurance arm, continue to express their opposition into the waning days of what has been an 18-month process. Yesterday, UPMC Health Plan sent a letter to state Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills, saying that the merger is anti-competitive and would not generate tangible benefits for the companies' many policyholders.

Mr. DeLuca is the chairman of the House Insurance Committee, which met yesterday. The panel decided to not hold a vote on the merger issue; instead, the panel will gather the recommendations of its individual members, and forward those onto the Insurance Department, Mr. DeLuca said.

He expected that his committee mates would urge Mr. Ario to approve the merger conditionally, if he approves it at all. That is, the merger would have to meet requirements established by the state -- a guarantee, for example, that all administrative savings derived from the merger "be returned to the policyholders," Mr. DeLuca said.

Mr. DeLuca said he's received no smoke signals from the administration regarding Mr. Ario's stance on the merger:

"I don't think he's made a decision one way or another."

The soonest he can render a decision is by January, 60 days after he receives the final recommendations of the legislative panels.