Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Times Are A Changing: Amazon's Plans, CVS-Aetna Talks Reveal A Shift In PBM Landscape
Bloomberg: CVS-Aetna Deal Could Mean End Of Era In How Drugs Are Paid For
If Aetna Inc. is eventually swallowed by CVS Health Corp., an important part of the health-care business will be changed -- perhaps for good. For years, pharmacy benefits were largely carved out from the rest of a medical coverage plan. But increasingly the two services are being combined, a move that in theory will make it easier to verify whether expensive drugs are worth the cost. A merger of the third-biggest health insurer with the largest U.S. drugstore chain, which also operates a pharmacy-benefit management company, could speed the process. (Langreth and McLaughlin, 10/27)
Los Angeles Times: CVS-Aetna? Expect More Strange Bedfellows As Competition From Amazon Grows
If CVS Health’s reported $66-billion bid to acquire health insurer Aetna is approved, it could give the retail pharmacy chain an infusion of customers through Aetna’s members and more leverage when it negotiates drug prices. But beyond that, the tie-up could help prepare the two companies for what analysts believe will be the industry-rattling arrival of Amazon into the pharmacy business. (Pierson, 10/27)
Boston Globe: CVS Plots A Blockbuster Deal As Amazon Looms Over Pharmacy Business
CVS Health is reportedly in talks to buy health insurer Aetna Inc., an attempt by the Woonsocket, R.I., drugstore giant to insulate itself from tectonic shifts in the health care market. The acquisition would be the latest in CVS’s efforts to expand the scope of its health care services amid the uncertainties created by Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and rising medical costs that have consumers, businesses, and politicians on edge. (Nanos, 10/27)
