With its announcement this week that it will split itself into two companies—one for its stores and the other for its pharmacy benefit management and insurance arm—CVS Health will undo the $78 billion merger that created the conglomerate in 2018 that was supposed to be the vertically integrated solution to health care. And it should have been, but CVS never seemed to get it right. So, once again we have yet another example of a corporation merging-and-then-purging for the benefit of bankers, consultants, and M&A brokers. This deal originally struck me as a terrific idea that had enormous positives for both the company and its customers. One company managing the entire health care process from start to finish made so much sense. Instead, it’s a sad story of another reversal of fortune and a loss for customers.



