Dive Brief:
- Aetna has made an offer to purchase Humana, the largest employer in Louisville, Kentucky, according to anonymous sources referenced by the Wall Street Journal.
- The move comes after weeks of speculation about a possible of Humana merger with another top five health insurer such as Aetna or Cigna.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, it's unclear what Aetna has offered to Humana, which has an estimated value of $30 billion.
Dive Insight:
To reiterate Louisville mayor Greg Fischer, we shouldn't read too much yet into this possible development.
"Look, Humana is a major player—a top five player in a big industry, so they are always going to be in play whether they are buying or people are talking about buying them," he is quoted by WHAS11. "You have a deal that could fall apart, Humana could be doing something we don't know about [and] so as a city, we've got to make sure we have the right workforce here so no matter what, we grow."
Humana has remained silent on the subject of a sale since rumors began swirling in May and says it won't comment until its announcement of second quarter earnings in late July.