Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Express Scripts Is on the Same Page with the White House on Opioids

President Trump recently declared the epidemic of opioid addiction and related deaths to be a national emergency, pledging the federal government would spending more money and pay more attention to stemming the crisis. While details are still to come, theoretically future actions could include mandatory education for prescribers nationally and increasing funds to treatment and prevention programs. Coinciding with that, Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager, is trying to restrict access to opioids. …

Anthem Will Look More Closely at ACA if Business Doesn’t Get Better

Like many insurers, Anthem says it’s had a hard time operating profitably in exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). Unlike many insurers, it has stuck with its participation despite those woes. If the situation doesn’t improve, though, Anthem says it will probably switch gears and reconsider its offerings for 2018. The company, whose proposed merger with Cigna faces an antitrust challenge by the Justice Department, also says it would issue a request …