If CVS’s $69B Deal To Buy Aetna Holds Up To Federal Scrutiny, It Could Transform Health Care Landscape

The New York Times: CVS To Buy Aetna For $69 Billion In A Deal That May Reshape The Health Industry
CVS Health said on Sunday that it had agreed to buy Aetna for about $69 billion in a deal that would combine the drugstore giant with one of the biggest health insurers in the United States and has the potential to reshape the nation’s health care industry. The transaction, one of the largest of the year, reflects the increasingly blurred lines between the traditionally separate spheres of a rapidly changing industry. (De La Merced and Abelson, 12/3)

The Washington Post: CVS Agrees To Buy Aetna In $69 Billion Deal That Could Shake Up Health-Care Industry
If approved, the mega-merger would create a giant consumer health care company with a familiar presence in thousands of communities. Aetna chief executive Mark T. Bertolini described the vision in an interview as "creating a new front door for health care in America." "We want to get closer to the community, because all health care is local," Bertolini said. "What was going to draw people into an Aetna store? Probably not a lot. We looked for the right kind of partnership." (Johnson, 12/3)

Reuters: CVS Health To Acquire Aetna For $69 Billion In Year's Largest Acquisition
The deal comes after Aetna's $37 billion plan to acquire smaller U.S. health insurance peer Humana Inc was blocked in January by a U.S. federal judge over antitrust concerns. A proposed combination of peers Anthem Inc and Cigna Corp was also shot down. (O'Donnell and Humer, 12/4)

The Boston Globe: Here's Why CVS Is Spending $69 Billion To Buy Insurer Aetna
CVS has two clear goals in making the largest purchase in its 54-year history, analysts said. The first is to accelerate the transformation of its 9,700 retail stores into health care supermarkets with wellness clinics for preventive care, vision and hearing services, telemedicine connections with doctors, and on-site nurse practitioners to assist with chronic conditions. The second is to fortify its business of managing pharmacy benefits, which oversees drug plans for employers and insurers, against a widely expected incursion by Amazon.com Inc. (Nanos, 12/4)

The Wall Street Journal: CVS To Buy Aetna For $69 Billion, Combining Major Health-Care Players
The proposed deal is the latest and most dramatic sign of how the lines between traditional segments in health care are blurring as companies, saddled with mature businesses and in many cases restricted from buying rivals, enter new areas in search of growth. Companies from insurers to hospital chains are also looking for ways to squeeze costs and bolster their leverage against other players in the food chain. That is creating opportunities, but also new fault lines as companies find themselves competing against erstwhile partners. (Terlep, Wilde Mathews and Cimilluca, 12/3)

Bloomberg: CVS To Buy Aetna For $67.5 Billion, Remaking Health Care Sector
In a joint interview, CVS Chief Executive Officer Larry Merlo and Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said combining the companies would help CVS expand a variety of retail medical services, from vision care to nutrition advice to audiology, making basic care more convenient and less costly for consumers. Aetna will be operated as a separate business unit, and any new services will be designed to appeal broadly to customers of other insurance companies as well, the executives said. (Tracer and Langreth, 12/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Will CVS Health Deal To Buy Aetna Hold Up To Antitrust Scrutiny?
CVS Health Corp.’s planned acquisition of Aetna Inc. will face tough antitrust scrutiny, but the limited overlap between the companies’ businesses should help bolster their case for the deal, experts said. The $69 billion acquisition would involve CVS’s drugstores, some including retail clinics, and its massive pharmacy-benefit-management business. Aetna is the third-biggest U.S. health insurer, selling plans to employers as well as offering Medicare and Medicaid coverage, among other types. The two companies have some areas of direct competition, particularly in the sale of drug plans to Medicare beneficiaries. (Wilde Mathews, 12/3)

Bloomberg: CVS-Aetna Takeover May Hinge On Antitrust Approach Under Trump
CVS Health Corp.’s $67.5 billion takeover of Aetna Inc. will test the Trump administration’s approach to far-reaching corporate takeovers, just weeks after the U.S. government sued to block a major telecommunications merger. The health-care deal unveiled Sunday would create an industry giant with over $240 billion in annual sales with a hand in insurance, prescription drug plan administration, retail pharmacies and corner clinics. The companies said the combination will save $750 million in costs and bring consumers better, more efficient health care. (Langreth, McLaughlin and Tracer, 12/4)

The New York Times: Why A CVS-Aetna Merger Could Benefit Consumers
There are reasons for consumers to be optimistic about CVS’s reported purchase of Aetna for $69 billion on Sunday. It’s one of the largest health care mergers in history, and in general, consolidation in health care has not been good for Americans. But by disrupting the pharmacy benefits management market, and by more closely aligning management of drug benefits and other types of benefits in one organization, CVS could be acting in ways that ultimately benefit consumers. (Frakt, 12/3)

Stat: CVS-Aetna Deal Further Concentrates Health Care. Will It Lower Costs?
Underscoring the transformation in health care, the CVS pharmacy giant’s deal to buy Aetna, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, has the potential for lowering costs, but also further concentrating key services among a very few large companies. The $69 billion merger, which must still be approved by shareholders and regulators, would combine the vast network of 9,700 CVS pharmacies, 1,100 walk-in clinics, and its Caremark pharmacy benefits management business with Aetna’s expansive employer and government health plans. The insurer covers more than 22 million Americans. (Silverman, 12/3)

Los Angeles Times: CVS To Buy Aetna For $69 Billion In Deal That Would Shake Up Healthcare Industry
Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, said, "It remains to be seen whether this [merger] is actually going to drive costs down" for consumers but that savings could materialize "if it becomes a lower-cost alternative to sending people to a doctor's office or having people show up in the emergency room." "To the extent they can help manage the Aetna members' conditions — particularly people who might otherwise end up in the ER or were recently hospitalized — this could lower costs," Kominski said. "We'll see how it pans out." (Peltz, 12/3)

Modern Healthcare: Aetna Leadership To Stay On After CVS Deal
Pharmacy chain CVS Health has agreed to buy health insurer Aetna for $69 billion in cash and stock, retaining its current management, the companies announced late Sunday. The deal brings together one of the largest providers of pharmacy services with the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, which together would establish a healthcare giant with more than $240 billion in annual revenue. (Livingston, 12/3)