What a decade it’s been for health care! The Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, unleased a tidal wave of change on the U.S. healthcare landscape that continues today. Even on the services side, pharmaceuticals figured into several transactions, from acquiring pharmacy benefits managers and contract research organizations (the R&D angle) to wholesale and distribution.
With only a few days left in the decade, here’s a chart of the top 10 healthcare services deals announced since January 1, 2010, ranked by disclosed price.
Five of the top 10 deals were announced in the last three years, including CVS Health‘s (NYSE: CVS) $78 billion shocker targeting Aetna, Cigna‘s (NYSE: CI) $67 billion takeover of Express Scripts and Centene Corp.‘s (NYSE: CNC) almost $17.4 billion buyout of WellCare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG).
The top 10 deals, totaling nearly $252 billion, make up only 29% of the $858 billion spent on healthcare services deals in the past 10 years. But with a combined total of 8,587 transactions reported in the decade, 10 deals aren’t going to move the needle. Until you step back and see their impact on the healthcare industry, that is.
