CIGNA just announced that it will buy pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Express Scripts for $67 billion. In December, CVS said it would buy Aetna for $69 billion.
Already, UnitedHealth, through its Optum data technology
and OptumRx pharmacy benefit manager subsidiaries, has detailed health care utilization information on over 115
million consumers, four out of five hospitals, 67,000 pharmacies,
100,000 physician practices, 300 health plans, and government agencies
in 34 states and D.C.
Remember the good old days when we complained about the health insurance company oligopoly with just a few players controlling most of the market share in any given market?
We appear to be quickly on the way to a new and different kind of oligopoly controlling an even wider swath of the market with these new health care system aggregators being created.