US pharmacy firm CVS to buy Aetna for $69 billion

With the merger, the companies together touch most of the basic health services that people regularly use, providing an opportunity to benefit consumers

CVS Health said on Sunday that it had agreed to buy Aetna for about $69 billion in a deal that would combine the drugstore giant with one of the biggest health insurers in the United States and has the potential to reshape the nation’s health care industry.

The transaction, one of the largest of the year, reflects the increasingly blurred lines between the traditionally separate spheres of a rapidly changing industry. It represents an effort to make both firms more appealing to consumers as health care that was once delivered in a doctor’s office more often reaches consumers over the