Sooner or later, someone is going to acquire someone else in the super-heated health insurance sector. The question is: Who will be the buyer, and who will be the seller?
The latest rumors, as reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, have UnitedHealth acquiring Aetna.
Not long ago, the takeover rumor mill was betting on Aetna to acquire either Cigna or Humana. But that was then, this is now.
The flurry of interest among the big insurance players is all about balancing out the book of business. Aetna was supposedly going after either Humana or Cigna to get more Medicare business. Now it’s Anthem allegedly sniffing around Humana and Cigna, with Aetna suddenly the hunted rather than the hunter.
In any case, share prices of those involved continue to escalate. Just prior to the closing bell, Aetna’s was up over 3 percent and UnitedHealth up more than 2 percent.
The other three showed less volatility but were clearly still being closely followed. Anyone with a large position in any of those players a month ago could easily afford a dream vacation based up the upswings.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
