CVS to acquire Aetna, Student Health Plan unlikely to change

This past Sunday, CVS Health announced that it would be acquiring Aetna Inc., the care provider through which University students who opt for the Student Health Plan receive their insurance.

The acquisition, however, is unlikely to affect those on the SHP.

CVS Health broke the news in a statement on its website entitled “CVS Health to Acquire Aetna; Combination to Provide Consumers with a Better Experience, Reduced Costs and Improved Access to Health Care Experts in Homes and Communities Across the Country.”

Citing the 90 million members of its pharmacy benefits plan and its more than 9,700 locations, CVS used the statement to highlight the benefits that it hopes the acquisition will bring. Among them, CVS Health cites “Integrated Community-Based Health Care Experience.”

As reported in The New York Times, chief CVS Health executive Larry Merlo remarked, “We think of it as creating a new front door to healthcare in America.” The same article cites Aetna’s chief executive Mark Bertolini as expressing that “[CVS is] in their community. It’s in their home … CVS has the draw. People trust their pharmacist.”

According to Princeton’s University Health Services website, all students receive insurance through the SHP at the time that tuition is paid. Once enrolled, students maintain the right to use the SHP as a secondary means of insurance should they wish to maintain their own private insurance.

The University does not plan to make any changes to SHP even after the deal is finalized, which will not happen until mid-2018 at the earliest.

“Aetna does not control what is and is not covered under the SHP,” said Michael Hotchkiss, a representative from the University’s Office of Communications.

Hotchkiss further explained that the University is in control of those decisions, adding that “the University does not plan to make changes to the Plan fees or coverage, regardless of whether a merger of CVS and Aetna is completed.”

The purchase of Aetna by CVS is valued at some $69 billion and is expected to be finalized by mid-2018.