Tuesday, January 14, 2025

FTC says: CVS, Cigna, UnitedHealth abuse middleman role

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused their pharmacy benefit manager units of imposing significant price markups on specialty generic drugs, according to a new interim staff report. FTC said the "Big 3 PBMs" -- CVS's Caremark, Cigna's Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth's OptumRx -- imposed markups of hundreds to thousands of percent on critical drugs, including those for cancer and HIV, between 2017 and 2022.

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... The PBMs generated more than $7.3 billion in excess revenue, with affiliated pharmacies receiving higher reimbursements than unaffiliated counterparts.

"The FTC staff's second interim report finds that the three major pharmacy benefit managers hiked costs for a wide range of lifesaving drugs, including medications to treat heart disease and cancer," said FTC Chair Lina Khan. ...



#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-01-14 03:28 PM

... imposed markups of hundreds to thousands of percent on critical drugs ...

Another example of corporations exploiting the needed healthcare of people for the profits of their wealthy owners?

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-01-14 07:12 PM

IT'S ALL ABOUT SHAREHOLDER VALUE!...man.

#3 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-01-14 07:29 PM

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