WOONSOCKET, R.I.—According to news reports at the end of last week, CVS Health has been talking to health insurer Aetna about a deal that would have the drugstore company purchase the insurer for about $66 billion, or $200 or more per share. The news was reported by The Wall Street Journal and other outlets on Thursday afternoon.

Asked about the reports, an Aetna spokesman told VMail, “We don’t comment on rumors or speculation.” CVS’s media office could not be reached Friday. But according to the news reports, CVS also declined to comment.

Aetna and Humana, earlier this year, mutually agreed to call off their planned merger after the Justice Department and a federal court took steps to block the proposed deal, as VMail reported. 

In the current health care environment, a combination of CVS with Aetna “makes sense because …. [CVS] has been facing threats from all sides,” analysts told CNBC.

One of the looming threats to CVS—which operates optical departments in about 20 to 25 of its drugstores, as VMail reported —is the online retailer Amazon, which is considering a move into the pharmaceutical distribution business, according to industry watchers.