Cigna nears deal to offload Medicare business

According to reports, Cigna is in exclusive talks to sell its Medicare Advantage business to Health Care Service Corp in a deal that could value the unit between $3 billion and $4 billion.

HCSC is a large nonprofit health insurer that is the parent of Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in five states including Texas and Illinois.

Cigna had ~599k Medicare Advantage members at the end of September. The business had around $7.9 billion in revenue in 2022, representing ~4.4% of the company’s total revenue for the year.

In 2012, Cigna paid $3.8 billion to acquire Medicare Advantage provider HealthSpring.

The deal is expected to be announced in the coming days, if the talks do not fall apart, according to the reports.