LONDON (ShareCast) - US health insurer firm Aetna is close to acquiring rival Humana, according to reports.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the company was also said to have received a bid from rival Cigna, although the same source said that Aetna preferred Aetna's offer.

Discussions between Aetna and Humana have apparently intensified in the past few days after it was made public that rival firm Anthem had also made a $47.5bn takeover offer to buy Cigna.

There have been a number of potential deals by US health insurers recently, who are looking to buy smaller rivals to merge with and cut costs, as they cope with changes under the US Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare", through which 12m Americans can get subsidies to buy their own plans.

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