Dive Brief:
- Indianapolis-based national health insurer Anthem has bought Coral Gables, FL-based Simply Healthcare Holdings for about $1 billion. The deal, which should close in early 2015, will be closed with Simply Healthcare parent company MBF Healthcare Partners.
- The acquisition expands Anthem's Medicare and Medicaid presence in Florida substantially. Simply Healthcare currently offers Medicare and Medicaid plans to about 200,000 Florida residents.
- Simply Healthcare execs say they believe the buyout will help it reach a greater share of the 3.6 million Floridians eligible for Medicaid and 3.5 million Florida-based Medicare eligibles.
Dive Insight:
This has been an active year for MBF Healthcare Partners, which just sold its Navarro Discount Pharmacy subsidiary to CVS earlier this year. This deal essentially offers a second extremely powerful partner to MBF, which is well-poised to dramatically expand its presence in Florida.
The only obvious downside to this deal is that, like the one with CVS, it brings MBF into the spotlight as the partner of a public company whose doings are far more closely scrutinized than those of private firm. However, the access to capital, marketing muscle and distribution would seem to far outweigh the disadvantages of public company life. Clearly, MBF's growth potential is virtually unlimited with giant partners like CVS and Anthem.
