By Bradley George
Aflac is buying Argus Holdings, a dental and vision insurance company headquarted in Tampa, for $75 million.
"We are very excited to have Argus join the Aflac family as we move closer to fulfilling our vision of being the number one distributor of benefit solutions to the U.S. workforce," Aflac president Teresa White said in a statement Friday.
Aflac’s main business is supplemental insurance: the kind that helps pay for long hospital stays or cancer care. It also sells group dental and vision coverage, and the Argus deal will allow it to offer those products to individual consumers.
Founded in Tampa in 2006, Argus is licensed to sell vision and dental insurance in 48 states. The company also manages those benefits for Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Argus will keep its 120 employees in Tampa once the deal is complete. The office will become headquarters for all dental and vision plans offered by Aflac.
