UnitedHealth Group Inc. is out on Obamacare but in on the government. 

The insurer's first-quarter earnings release on Tuesday revealed its Medicare and Medicaid businesses are growing rapidly, even as it has pulled out of the Affordable Care Act's individual exchange markets.

UnitedHealth's success in these areas is likely to further press its biggest rivals — Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., Anthem Inc., and Cigna Corp. — to try to keep pace by buying smaller companies. It's a scary time for any of those four to do a deal; their efforts to combine into two giants have failed or devolved into dueling lawsuits, and the Republican party is refusing to give up on an unpopular attempt to repeal and replace the ACA.  

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