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from the all-the-more-to-get-folk-in-the-store dept.
Walmart could acquire the health insurer Humana, in a deal reminiscent of CVS's acquisition of Aetna:
Walmart Inc. is in preliminary talks to buy insurer Humana Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would mark a dramatic shift for the retail behemoth and the latest in a recent flurry of big deals in health-care services.
It isn't clear what terms the companies may be discussing, and there is no guarantee they will strike a deal. If they do, the deal would be big: Humana currently has a market value of about $37 billion. It also would be Walmart's largest deal by far, eclipsing its 1999 acquisition of the U.K.'s Asda Group PLC for $10.8 billion. Walmart, which in addition to being the world's biggest retailer is also a major drugstore operator, has a market value of about $260 billion.
[...] Walmart has a vast pharmacy business, with locations in most of its roughly 4,700 U.S. stores and in many of it Sam's Club warehouse locations. Humana is a Medicare-focused insurer that could deepen Walmart's relationship with a key demographic—seniors—at a time when the retailer is being threatened by Amazon on several fronts.
Also at CNN.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Whoever on Saturday March 31 2018, @06:35PM (3 children)
Anyone who thinks that medical insurance can ever be like other insurance such as auto or house is an idiot.
Imagine this situation: you are out walking and you suffer a stroke or heart attack.
You can't negotiate who provides the ambulance or where the ambulance takes you because:
1. The most important thing for you is to get to an ER as soon as possible.
2. You may not be able to communicate.
On a lesser note: there is an advantage in doctors seeing all your medical history, which cuts strongly against shopping around for medical services for each type of illness or treatment required.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:11PM
You say that is if that is a novelty or something. Where do you get your medical care where this is not already the case?
The other reason medical insurance can't be like other insurance is this insistence that everyone gets to control what they put in their own body, drugs, dicks, drinks and daily double cheese burgers, and EVERYONE else gets to STFU and pay for their medical care, because you can't charge one person for their actual risk factors because that would be discriminatory.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:15PM
The Free Market is an iterative process; it's enough to be able to review history.
Secondly, part of employing a risk manager (like insurance) is to pay them to do that kind of analysis for you, and thereby come up with solutions in advance of need.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01 2018, @12:04AM
House and auto insurance is also a disaster, with companies constantly ripping people off and trying to get out of paying. They should be regulated into oblivion, at the very least.