Mergers and acquisitions for payers, their subsidiaries and related businesses have been in full swing throughout 2026. The year has included nonprofit affiliations and large payers refining their portfolios.
Here are 15 M&A updates from 2026:
1. Optum Financial, under UnitedHealth Group, closed its acquisition of benefits administration platform Alegeus Technologies July 2.
2. In June, pharmacy benefit managers Abarca Health and LucyRx shared plans to merge, expecting to close the deal in the third quarter of 2026. While CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx dominate the PBM space, Abarca and LucyRx said the market “is at a breaking point.”
3. Wisconsin insurer WPS Health Solutions acquired Mavida Health, a company offering digital women’s mental health services, according to a June news release.
4. As St. Louis-based Ascension completed its acquisition of ambulatory surgery center operator AmSurg, six divested AmSurg facilities were picked up by Optum subsidiary SC Affiliates.
5. Optum is in talks with several New York health systems to sell some specialties, the company confirmed in late June.
6. Renton, Wash.-based Providence will exit most lines of its health insurance business, Providence Health Plan, starting in 2027. The health system plans to maintain its Medicare Advantage business through an agreement with a national carrier, according to a May 20 news release.
7. CVS Health confirmed court approval to sell its long-term care pharmacy business, Omnicare, to GenieRx, an investment firm partnership. The transaction’s closing cash consideration is $250 million.
8. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is leveraging HealthEZ, a third-party administrator it purchased last year, to join the TPA market. Solutions will be available effective Jan. 1, 2027.
9. The Cigna Group is floating “strategic alternatives” for utilization management subsidiary EviCore, under Evernorth.
10. UnitedHealth also completed its sale of Optum UK to TPG. The United Kingdom subsidiary’s primary asset was EMIS Group, a software company used by the country’s NHS.
11. North Dakota regulators approved an affiliation between BCBS North Dakota and Cambia Health Solutions Jan. 23, taking effect Feb. 1. The insurers announced their plans to affiliate in August 2025.
12. Fallon Health will join fellow nonprofit insurer Boston-based Mass General Brigham Health Plan after an “intentional process to identify a long-term partner,” a Jan. 8 statement said.
13. Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee Hawaii Medical Service Association and Honolulu-based Hawaii Pacific Health — which includes ACO Hawaii Health Partners — will affiliate under a new nonprofit parent organization, One Health Hawaii, leaders confirmed Jan. 7. Several critics voiced concerns during a Jan. 13 informational briefing as the organizations prepare to seek regulatory approval.
14. The country’s leading insurers took ownership of the data services group Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, which moved away from its nonprofit structure. Shareholders include UnitedHealth Group, Centene Corp., Aetna, Elevance Health, Cigna Group, Humana and some regional BCBS insurers.
15. Priority Health became the sole governing group of Wisconsin’s Health Cooperative of Eau Claire, a community-based health plan with more than 61,000 members. The transaction was finalized at the top of 2026.
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