Being the middleman standing between drugmakers and insurance companies is getting to be more uncomfortable.

Health insurance giant Anthem Inc. moved to sever ties with pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts Holding Co. on Wednesday, opting instead to build its own such business in collaboration with CVS Health Corp. as it looks to contain its spiraling drug costs.

The pharmacy-benefits management business has been under widening scrutiny. Lawmakers, consumers and insurers, among others, have complained that pharmacy-benefits managers, or PBMs, use opaque deals and rebates to pad their profits. Several states have tried to enhance transparency around the business despite an aggressive industry pushback.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Core and Group Health
Consumer Driven Health Care
Broker Regulation
Employer-Paid
Cost-Containment