U.S. Health Insurers Humana, Cigna Merger Talks On

US health insurer Cigna is in talks to merge with peer Humana, a source familiar with the matter said, in a deal that could exceed $60 billion in value and would be certain to attract fierce antitrust scrutiny, as reported by Anirban Sen and Deena Beasley for Reuters.

Cigna and Humana have market values of $77 billion and $59 billion, respectively. I Photo: Humana

The discussions come six years after regulators blocked mega-deals that would have consolidated the US health insurance sector.

After US courts upheld antitrust challenges in 2017, Cigna gave up on a $48-billion deal to acquire Anthem—now known as Elevance Health. Losing the legal battle also caused Aetna—now owned by the pharmacy chain operator CVS Health—to abandon a $37-billion deal to acquire Humana.

Cigna and Humana are discussing a stock-and-cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the potential deal earlier on Wednesday.

A merger would give the combined company more scale to rival bigger US health insurance players UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health.

Cigna and Humana, which have market values of $77 billion and $59 billion, respectively, currently have limited business overlap, concentrated in Medicare plans for older Americans.

WEEKLY FEATURE : Jose Mari Chan And The Christmas Anthem