CVS Seeks to Purchase Aetna Insurance for $69 Billion.

December 2017 – This move could transform healthcare delivery, some have suggested that the 9,700 CVS storefronts could thereafter become community medical hubs for primary care and basic procedures. Expanded services could include:  wellness, nutrition, vision, hearing and other medical services — saving costs by keeping people healthier and providing care in a lower-cost setting than a hospital.

This would be the largest healthcare merger in more than a year, and is scheduled to be completed in the later half of 2018, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. The united front could provide greater competition to UnitedHealthGroup (the nation’s largest insurer, which has already expanded beyond its core business model, into pharmacy, clinics, and surgery services).

Aetna currently maintains 22 million medical members at its nationwide network of pharmacies and walk-in clinics. The CVS model would decrease the drugstore reliance on the retail sales that have faced increasing competition in recent years.

Forecasters believe that this deal may trigger more mergers in the health-care industry, which has been undergoing consolidation and faces potential competition from on-line vendors. Some pointing to Walgreen’s and Walmart as potential partners for healthcare services.

The health-care industry has already undergone considerable consolidation —  it has faces many challenges. Observers believe that this consolidation may succeed unlike two attempts last year between Aetna and Humana and Anthem and Cigna which crumbled under antitrust opposition. However, in this case it is thought that a merger between companies that don’t directly compete is thought to have a better chance of making past the regulators.