Merger talks within the health insurance sector are reaching a critical point, and it appears that there will be some major moves in the very near future. Some might equate this situation to the wild west, where speculatively anything could happen in terms of merger partners. As it turns out, speculators love guessing about mergers. Now we are in a sort of speculation soup about which of the health insurance providers are going to merge.

Over the weekend, Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) made an offer to acquire Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) for roughly $47 billion, or $184 per share. This is about an 18% premium from Friday’s closing price. Now Cigna did not completely rule that the deal off the table but perhaps under different circumstances or a better offer, the company would be more inclined.

At the same time, Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) has reportedly made a takeover bid to Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) according to the Wall Street Journal. No details were given at this point. Separately, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) appears to be eyeing Aetna as well. Regardless of which company buys the other, it looks as though the trend is for the top 5 health insurance providers to become the top 3 providers.

As 24/7 Wall St. has previously stated, these mergers among insurance providers are an unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act. It seems as though the insurance giants have figured out that the only way they can shield themselves from unlimited liability is to make sure that they have so many insured people as members that they simply cannot fail. Also considering all the different talks going on currently, it is a very real possibility that perhaps one of these top companies could be left without a merger partner.

Anthem operates as a licensee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield and served 37.5 million medical members at the end of 2014. Its market cap is roughly $44 billion. Anthem shares closed Friday relatively flat at $165.06 late on Tuesday. Its 52-week range is $106.37 to $170.98, and the consensus analyst price target is $173.47.

Aetna counts some 46 million people as its customers in various aspects of health business lines. Its market cap is about $43 billion. Aetna shares closed Friday down 0.4% to $124.07, against a 52-week range of $71.81 to $128.65 and against a consensus analyst target of $126.19. In pre-market trading Monday, shares were up 0.8% at $125.00.

Cigna has over a $40 billion market cap. A recent press release shows that Cigna operates in 30 countries and jurisdictions, and represented that it has over 88 million customer relationships throughout the world. Cigna shares closed Friday up 0.7% at $155.26, versus a 52-week range of $85.75 to $164.00 and a consensus price target of $153.57. In pre-market trading, shares were up 8% at $167.61. This was a $137 stock in recent days before merger interest rumors broke.

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Humana has roughly a $30 billion market cap. As of March 31, 2015, the company had about 14.2 million members in medical benefit plans and about 7.4 million members in specialty products. Humana shares closed Friday up 1.5% at $202.31. Its 52-week range is $115.51 to $219.79, and its consensus price target is $190.06. In pre-market trading shares were 2% at $206.25. In late May, Humana shares jumped to $214 from $178 on merger speculation.

UnitedHealth, a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock, has a market cap of $115 billion and is the largest of its peers. UnitedHealth shares closed Friday down 0.5% at $120.33, against a 52-week range of $78.74 to $123.76 and a consensus price target of $138.79.

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