Aetna, one of the nation’s biggest health insurers, claimed a bigger stake in the burgeoning market for government-funded coverage Monday when it announced plans to buy a leading provider of Medicaid and Medicare coverage for $5.7 billion.
The Hartford, Conn., company’s proposed acquisition of insurer Coventry Health Care will bolster its Medicaid business a few months before millions of people are expected to become eligible for the state- and federally-funded program for the needy and disabled under President Barack Obama’s massive health care overhaul.
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