Commentary: CVS unwinds its big mergers, ending a dream of healthcare dominance

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Set us as preferred I’m old enough to remember the day when CVS, the big drugstore company, opted to get even bigger by acquiring the health insurer Aetna.“Today marks the start of a new day in healthcare and a transformative moment for our company and our industry,” CVS Health President and Chief Executive Officer Larry J.

Merlo boasted.The $70-billion deal would lead to “improved health outcomes and lower medical costs,” he said.I’m not giving away my age with this recollection.

The deal happened a mere eight years ago, in 2018.Merlo’s ambitions and braggadocio didn’t have much of a shelf life: On Wednesday, the company announced it was deconstructing the edifice he had erected, by splitting into two companies.Greater independence will make it easier to serve consumers, members, patients, and communities.— CVS Health CEO David Joyner, explaining the virtues of spinning off the company’s drugstoresOne, encompassing Aetna and Caremark, the pharmacy benefit manager it acquired in 2007 for $26.5 billion, will retain the name CVS Health, and the other, dubbed CVS Pharmacy, will own the 9,000 CVS drugstores, the nationwide legacy of the original company that started with a single Massachusetts store.

The company’s current CEO, David Joyner, announced the breakup with the same cocksure swagger his predecessor had employed in promoting his big idea.The goal would be to create “two distinct leaders in healthcare” where before there was only one.

The result would deliver “more affordability, greater access, and a simpler experience,” Joyner said.Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.

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