Centene, UnitedHealth Start New Year With Acquisitions
Although 2021 has just begun, major health insurers appear to be wasting no time when it comes to spending the influx of cash that they’ve collected as a result of reimbursing lower-than-normal medical claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Jan. 4, Centene Corp. revealed that it struck a deal to purchase Magellan Health, Inc. for $2.2 billion, a transaction that promises to augment the insurer’s existing behavioral health, specialty health care and pharmacy management assets. Just two days later, UnitedHealth Group said it plans to purchase the technology company Change Healthcare for approximately $13 billion, a deal that adds “key technologies, connections and advanced clinical decision, administrative and financial support capabilities” to UnitedHealth’s analytics and advisory arm, OptumInsight.