Aetna Buys Humana for $37B

Too bad it couldn't have been the other way around. Humana's overall agent platform and support is much better than Aetna/Coventry's.
 
Time for my Humana individual health plan grandfathered rates to skyrocket...bring it on ! Seems like Aetna makes everything as expensive as possible....
 
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This is great news !!

Not for IFP it isn't-Aetna's commissions went down by about 30% between 2014 and 2015 when they went to a PMPM model, they will probably do the same thing with Humana and possibly lower the monthly commission as well.
 
I don't think anything meaningful will occur before 2017 Open Enrollment. Don't the FEDS have to approve? There's already been talk of the second merger in line at the Feds being scrutinized more than the first one in line...which was Centene buying Health Net.

I know the Aetna-Humana business model is different from Centene-HealthNet, but the Government probably just sees both as red flags for the health insurance industry?
 
I don't think anything meaningful will occur before 2017 Open Enrollment. Don't the FEDS have to approve? There's already been talk of the second merger in line at the Feds being scrutinized more than the first one in line...which was Centene buying Health Net.

I know the Aetna-Humana business model is different from Centene-HealthNet, but the Government probably just sees both as red flags for the health insurance industry?

I agree with that, 2016 is most likely OK because the merger won't be completed, my comment was the long term implications.

Assuming no changes in 2016, my goal is to get as many people settled into a plan for next year so that there are minimal changes in the following year, particularly for Off Exchange business, so that I can count on continuing renewals at the same level for as long as the plans exist.
 
The Supreme Court (the protectors of ACA) won't allow it to happen. They have Obama's ear.

With 2 mergers in 2 days, I'll bet the others will feel pressure to make a 3rd one happen soon (Anthem/Cigna).

Another promise (increased competition), goes down.
 
Just wait until Big Blue swallows up all of these consolidations in about 5 years. The Feds will allow it since they are in essence many different organizations under a single umbrella (easier to deceive the public that there is still competition), and then there will be zero competition. At that point Blue will just be an extension of the Feds and we will have a quasi nationalized health insurance plan (more so than the current one). Eventually there will be no reason to have regional Blues at that point so 3 or 4 years after that Anthem will most likely just buyout all of the others. So I give it 10 years max that we have a single carrier with maybe 4 or 5 plans to choose from... but hey, at least they have the largest national network right? :1rolleyes:
 
Clearly, the carrier compression that we all predicted is at our doorstep. And it is happening at about the time that we predicted it would happen. It wasn't just agents predicting it - across the nation people predicted it. Government control never really leads to increased competition.

Fortunately for carriers, it's a great economic season for mergers & acquisitions, given the fact that Yellen hasn't raised interest rates yet. That makes it a bonus for them, but they were going to do this anyway.

Carrier compression is never good for agents. In states that have one carrier, (it's usually the Blues), there is no agent commission.
 
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