Cigna Medicare Advantage Sale Intensifies, Teeing Up Humana Deal

Cigna Group’s potential tie-up with Humana Inc. would almost certainly face the kind of tough antitrust scrutiny that has derailed other health insurance mega-mergers.

In recent months, Cigna has been taking steps to get around that hurdle by shopping its relatively smaller Medicare Advantage business, a move that made little sense on its own before news broke of the Cigna-Humana talks.

That business has drawn interest from potential buyers including Health Care Service Corp., according to people familiar with the matter who asked to not be identified because it isn’t public.

Representatives for HCSC and Cigna declined to ...