CVS to Separate Pharmacy and Insurance Businesses

WHO:

NBC News Health - CVS Health is splitting its retail pharmacy business from its insurance business, which oversees Aetna and Caremark.

NBC News Health - CVS Health’s CEO said the split is intended to help customer engagement, affordability and care coordination.

Fox Business - CVS Health’s healthcare solutions company will include its pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), insurance plans and subsidiaries Aetna, CVS Caremark, CVS Specialty, Oak Street Health and Signify Health.

Fox Business - The CVS Pharmacy company will include the retail division, roughly 9,000 stores, mail-order pharmacy business, MinuteClinic and Health100 technology services unit.

Fox Business - Douglas Hoey of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), which represents thousands of independent pharmacies, said the separation could benefit competition and patients.

Fox Business - CVS Specialty will remain in the healthcare solutions division; its specialty mail-order operations handle medications for cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic.

WHAT:

NBC News Health - CVS Health plans to separate into two units: retail pharmacy and insurance.

Fox Business - The plan would create two independent, publicly traded companies.

Fox Business - Existing CVS Health investors will receive tax-free shares in both companies.

Fox Business - CVS shares fell nearly 13% on Tuesday, reaching levels not seen since spring. The article listed CVS at $79.96, down $11.45, or 12.53%.

Fox Business - Hoey said a separation could support competition, patient access to medicines and lower prescription costs if “CVS becomes a true partner with other pharmacies.”

Fox Business - Hoey said CVS had closed roughly 10% of its locations over the past five years because of underperformance and predicted the standalone pharmacy company might scrutinize underperforming stores more closely.

Fox Business - Hoey said only about one-third of U.S. pharmacies are independently owned. He cited Rite Aid’s bankruptcy and Walgreens’ removal from the stock market after its purchase by private equity.

Fox Business - The NCPA said shareholders will hold stock in both companies, potentially giving them an incentive to favor one business over the other.

WHERE:

Fox Business - CVS Health is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Fox Business - Hoey said CVS stores are usually near other pharmacies, giving patients alternatives when a store closes.

WHEN:

Fox Business - The separation is expected to be completed by the first half of 2028.

Fox Business - Arkansas and Tennessee passed laws in 2025 and 2026 barring PBMs from owning retail pharmacies; both laws face ongoing federal legal challenges.

WHY:

NBC News Health - CVS’s CEO said the split is intended to improve customer engagement, affordability and care coordination.

Fox Business - CVS said the restructuring would allow it to “evolve into two companies with greater focus and more value for stakeholders.”

Fox Business - Hoey said separation could unlock shareholder value by separating the slower-growing, lower-margin retail drugstore business from faster-growing, more profitable healthcare divisions.

Fox Business - Hoey said the move could help CVS respond to regulatory scrutiny of vertical integration, which can let companies steer patients, dictate drug coverage and underpay competing pharmacies.

HOW:

Fox Business - CVS argued in its legal challenge to Tennessee’s law that it already complies with requirements to reimburse nonaffiliated pharmacies at the same or higher rate than affiliated pharmacies and does not steer patients toward affiliated pharmacies.

Fox Business - Hoey said CVS can determine how much competing pharmacies are paid and where patients can obtain prescriptions; he said CVS sometimes pays itself more than other pharmacies.

(UPDATED November 5, 2026 19:16 UTC)

CVS Health plans to split into independent retail pharmacy and healthcare companies, separating its stores from insurance operations. Leaders say the move could improve affordability and care coordination. The separation is expected by the first half of 2028.