Retail giant Walmart is in the early stages of talks to buy Louisville-based health insurer Humana, according to a report published Thursday evening in the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper cites people familiar with the deal, the terms of which weren’t disclosed. But the move would be the latest in a trend of retail pharmacies acquiring health insurers; in December, CVS bought insurer Aetna.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Humana employs about 12,000 people in the Louisville area.
A federal judge blocked an attempted merger between Humana and Aetna, another health insurance company, last year citing anti-trust concerns. Since then, Humana has announced plans to buy home health care company Kindred, and that deal is moving forward.
This post has been updated to correct the name of the insurer bought by CVS.