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UnitedHealth Group appears to be living up to a
promise to further expand outside the U.S. with news the nation’s largest
insurer is in talks to buy Chile-based Banmédica.
With $200 billion in annual revenue largely from
the U.S., UnitedHealth sees an opportunity to grow in emerging and established
global healthcare markets where it can leverage its expertise as both an
insurer and a provider of medical care. “In the U.S., the market is pretty
mature,” Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with Mizuho Securities USA said in an
interview.
But analysts like Skolnick see UnitedHealth and
its Optum unit that includes population health, drug benefit management and
outpatient medical care delivery as making emerging markets “more efficient
earlier” than the mature U.S. market.
Already, UnitedHealth operates Amil, which is Brazil’s largest healthcare
company , serving more than 4 million people. Amil offers both
health insurance and medical care services. UnitedHealth Group bought Amil in
2012.
Banmédica is an insurer that also operates
hospitals and clinics. Banmédica is "one of the largest private health groups in Chile
, Colombia and Peru, with 25 years of expertise in Latin
America,” UnitedHealth Group said in a statement it issued Monday.
“Banmédica is very similar to Amil,
which is the largest Brazilian insurance company with a strong asset base that
encompasses both owned and contracted hospitals, and a leading network of
physicians and outpatient clinics,”
Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said in a research note. “While the Brazilian deal with Amil
for ~$5 B has not been without challenges, it offers UNH diversification into a
new geography.”
UnitedHealth executives described the discussions with Banmédica as
“non-binding exploratory” talks. “There are specific terms
under discussion but no formal agreement at this time, and no guarantee this
process will end with an agreement to combine,” UnitedHealth said in a
statement.
UnitedHealth executives have hinted in recent
months that they are interested in more deals outside the U.S.
UnitedHealth’s
Optum unit also has had a contract
for three years with the United Kingdom’s National Health
Services.
UnitedHealth serves 138 million people globally though 126 million are in
the U.S . “With a socially sensitive global healthcare market
constantly challenged and changing we see UnitedHealth Group, Optum, and
UnitedHealthcare built for that environment,” UnitedHealth Group executive
chairman Stephen J. Hemsley said during the company’s
second-quarter earnings call in July.
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