CVS Health is extremely close to cementing its $66 billion takeover of Aetna, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. It’d be the biggest deal of the year, and Axios’ Bob Herman notes that more health care deals could also be in the offing:

• Humana recently altered its executive compensation and severance policies in case the health insurer is bought out or merges with another company. Wall Street views Humana as a ripe acquisition target for Cigna because of Humana’s huge Medicare business.
• Express Scripts is about to lose its large, lucrative pharmacy benefits contract with Anthem. Express Scripts’ CEO said at a Forbes health care conference yesterday he “would be open” to striking a merger deal with a health insurer or partnering with Amazon.
• Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health, two large hospital systems, likely will provide more details into their merger discussions when they chat with bondholders next week.

Get smart: Health care mergers and acquisitions have been in vogue for years, and big deals would be almost certain to happen if Congress also passes its tax cut bill — which would give companies more money to play with through vastly lower corporate tax rates.