UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna’s PBMs are using their market share and pull in Washington to drive one of the key levers to manage health care costs—independent pharmacies—out of business.
PBMs
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Zoomer Hackers Shut Down the Biggest Extortion Ring of All
A ransomware gang cripples UnitedHealthcare. Could a comprehensive antitrust investigation finish the job?
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Public Pharma’s Biggest Barrier
California is about to start developing and manufacturing insulin. But is the state too tied up with nonprofit Civica Rx, rather than building its own capacity?
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Building a Giant
Mapping UnitedHealth’s consumption of our health care system—from the ’70s to today
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Slow Cooker of Corporate Flameouts
A band of Reddit contrarians tried to make Rite Aid the first meme stock. A truly staggering series of miscues thwarted their dreams.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Gatekeeper of the Gougers
In a newly unsealed deposition, a former Express Scripts executive (unintentionally) reveals how hard his colleagues were undermining his ‘mission’ to cut drug prices.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
The Oliver Twist
How orphan drugs became big business for Big Pharma
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Rural Pennsylvanians Stranded by Health Care Giants
Insurer UPMC and its new pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts are squeezing local independent pharmacies, with residents caught in the crossfire.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Prescription Drug Middleman Potentially Profiting off Veterans
Express Scripts has forced 400,000 beneficiaries to find a new prescription filler. Critics say the company is steering them toward its own mail-order pharmacy.