Like Humana, UnitedHealth Moves to Buy Home Care Assets

  • Apr 01, 2022

    UnitedHealth Group said on March 29 that it will spend approximately $6 billion in cash to purchase LHC Group, Inc., a home health care company. Experts tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the move will bolster UnitedHealth’s current strengths and help the integrated benefits and care delivery giant hold on to the top spot in Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment.

    According to Moody’s Investor Service, UnitedHealth will spend $5.4 billion to purchase stock in LHC and use another $600 million to amortize LHC debt. Dean Ungar, Moody’s senior vice president and senior credit officer, wrote in a March 30 note to investors that the deal “is a classic [UnitedHealth] acquisition in that it modestly increases consolidated [UnitedHealth] leverage, but does not pose significant integration risk and should incrementally strengthen the business over time,” adding that the deal should close in the second half of the year.

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  • Peter Johnson

    Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.

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