A PYMNTS Company

US: Republican Congressman comes out against CVS-Aetna merger

By  |  March 14, 2018

US Representative Rick Crawford (Republican-Arkansas) has sent letters to federal regulators stating his “grave concern” over the proposed acquisition of Aetna, one of the nation’s largest insurance companies, by CVS Health, a Rhode Island-based health care conglomerate that has been at the center of a political showdown in Arkansas.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    The congressman wrote that CVS Caremark, a subsidiary of CVS Health, has “run amok in my state by severely undercutting reimbursements to pharmacists.” CVS Caremark is a pharmacy benefits manager, a middleman company that negotiates drug prices with manufacturers on behalf of insurance carriers. PBMs also handle retail pharmacy claims.

    More broadly, Crawford is raising the issue of whether large vertical mergers like CVS-Aetna harm consumers. The combined companies would have more than US$240 billion in annual sales and would be involved in selling insurance, negotiating drug prices between drugmakers and insurers, and running a major pharmacy chain, according to company data from Bloomberg Law.

    If the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission take Crawford up on his request, the drug distribution system, including not only pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, and pharmacies but also drug distributors and wholesalers like McKesson and Cardinal Health, could come under the microscope of antitrust regulators.

    Full Content: Crawford House & Bloomberg

    Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.