Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Many of you have already heard the news: CVS is buying Aetna for $69 billion. As the New York Times reports: Together, the companies touch most of the basic health services that people regularly use, providing an opportunity to benefit consumers. CVS operates a chain of pharmacies and retail clinics that could be used by…
CVS is in talks to buy Aetna for $66 billion. This would be a merger between one of the largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBM) in the country and the third largest insurer. A successful deal could push millions of Aetna’s members toward CVS’s retail pharmacies, walk-in Minute Clinics, and services such as home visits for…
A judge blocked a potential $37 billion deal for the merger of large U.S. health insurers Aetna and Humana. The Washington Post provides some explanation behind the judge’s logic: Bates wrote in his opinion that the proposed merger would have decreased competition substantially in the Medicare Advantage market in 364 counties. Aetna and Humana had argued…
Today, Aetna, the third-largest U.S. health plan, agreed to buy Coventry Health Care for $5.6 billion. Aetna paid a 20 percent premium for Coventry. Why is Coventry such an attractive target? The answer is that President Obama’s Health Reform will greatly expand the number of people eligilbe for Medicaid. Since many states are moving towards…