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When CVS Health and Aetna announced their merger on Sunday, their executives painted an image of a dawning health care utopia. The new company, combining one of the country’s biggest pharmacies with one of its largest health insurers, will create a world where patients will get the “human touch,” they said. Fewer people will fall through the cracks, they promised, and getting high-quality, low-cost medical care will be as close as your corner drugstore. (Abelson and Thomas, 12/4)

CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. are attempting to create something with little precedent: an integrated health-care enterprise that isn’t built around doctors. The combination of the two companies, in a deal valued at $69 billion and announced Sunday, is supposed to bring together Aetna’s patient data and CVS’s sprawling network of nearly 10,000 brick-and-mortar sites to squeeze out costs while improving care and convenience. (Wilde Mathews and Terlep, 12/4)

CVS Health is looking to create a national network of community medical clinics that will serve as "America's front door to quality health care." That's the goal, according to a statement by CEO Larry Merlo on his company's deal for Aetna. It's an ambitious one for CVS, a company better known as a quick stop for Tylenol and a Coke. (Kodjak, 12/4)

CVS Health Corp.’s deal to buy insurer Aetna Inc. for about $67.5 billion could be just the start of a new wave of health-care takeovers. The merger announced Sunday will leave one less independent player in the complex web of insurers, retailers and other middlemen that sit between patients and their care -- and who are under pressure to reduce costs. (Langreth, 12/4)

Next on the corporate agenda at CVS Health Corp.: lightening up the balance sheet. CVS announced new financial details from its $69 billion agreement to buy Aetna Corp. on Monday morning. Investor reaction was lukewarm: CVS sold off 3% in early trading. That reaction is understandable since CVS will see little short-term benefit from the acquisition, which is set to close in the second half of next year. (Grant, 12/4)

The proposed $69 billion merger between pharmacy giant CVS and health insurer Aetna would create a new type of health care behemoth. (Tahir and Demko, 12/4)

It’s not clear that antitrust regulators will look favorably on the $69 billion merger. Earlier this year, Aetna ended its attempt to acquire Humana, another insurance company. The deal would have created the largest private Medicare insurer in the country. Aetna had faced significant obstacles. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch sued Aetna to prevent the deal, and it was eventually blocked by a federal court. (Weixel, 12/4)

Aetna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini could walk away with at least $88.3 million if he’s terminated after CVS Health Corp. buys the insurer. Bertolini holds equity awards valued at $71.9 million at the CVS deal’s $207 offer price that would vest immediately if he’s let go within two years of a transaction, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. He’s also entitled to about $6.72 million in severance and had accumulated $9.72 million in deferred compensation and pension as of Dec. 31. (Melin, 12/4)

CVS Health Corp. shares dropped Monday as investors expressed uncertainty about the pharmacy giant’s $69-billion deal to acquire health insurer Aetna Inc. CVS stock was down 4.9% at $71.45 around 9:45 a.m. PST. Meanwhile, shares of Aetna were down 0.5% at $180.40 after an early-morning jump. (Masunaga, 12/4)

The kind of services shoppers can expect at over 800 CVS stores in Texas could become broader if the drugstore giant’s $69 billion dollar acquisition of major health insurer Aetna clears next year. On Sunday, the companies unveiled plans to create a “uniquely integrated, community-based health care experience.” That would essentially bring the drugstore chain into the health services industry and link  management of patients medical bills and prescriptions under one umbrella. (12/4)

The combination of CVS and Aetna, the Philadelphia region’s second-largest commercial insurer, would create a colossus. It would bring together a company of 9,700 stores, including 1,100 with MinuteClinics (a walk-in clinic for basic care), with an insurer that has 22.2 million customers and operations in all 50 states. CVS said 70 percent of the U.S. population lives within three miles of a CVS pharmacy. Together, the companies had $221.4 billion in revenue and $18.5 billion in operating income in the 12 months ending Sept. 30. (Brubaker, 12/5)

Through their $69 billion deal, CVS Health and Aetna are swinging an axe at the traditional ways in which patients access healthcare in hopes of building a new kind of model that's lower cost and more convenient for the consumer. At the center of this strategy is what's commonly called the new front door to healthcare: the walk-in clinic, and CVS has nearly 10,000 of them. Late Sunday, pharmacy chain and benefit manager CVS and insurer Aetna announced what would be the largest healthcare transaction to date, if approved by regulators and shareholders. The companies agreed that CVS will take over Aetna, with the No. 3 U.S. health insurer becoming a standalone unit inside the pharmacy giant. (Livingston, 12/4)

Drugstore chain CVS Health Corp. is buying Aetna Inc., one of the country’s largest health insurance companies, for $69 billion. (Ben-Achour, 12/4)

Allina Health System, one of the largest operators of hospitals and clinics in the state, said Monday it doesn’t think its plans to sell insurance coverage next year in Minnesota will be hurt by the fact that its partner in the venture, Aetna, plans to be acquired by a drugstore chain that has dozens of community clinics in the Twin Cities. (Carlson, 12/4)

Consumers might start to see some dramatic changes inside their neighborhood pharmacy. CVS Health Corp. announced that it has agreed to buy health insurance giant Aetna Inc. for $69 billion. The combined companies aim to put the retailer’s nearly 10,000 stores to better use delivering medical care that’s more convenient than what’s available from many doctors’ offices and hospitals. (12/4)