NO MORE PROFITTING from people being SICK!!!!!!
"WellPoint sale to lift its power to bargain" by Alex Nussbaum, Bloomberg News | April 14, 2009
NEW YORK -WellPoint Inc.'s $4.7 billion sale of its pharmacy benefits unit will boost the health insurer's power to negotiate drug prices and let it double its share buyback plan, chief executive Angela Braly said.
WellPoint, the second largest US health insurer by sales, said yesterday it would sell its NetRx unit to Express Scripts Inc. for cash and stock. The shares of WellPoint and Express Scripts, the third largest drug plan manager, surged, with Express gaining up to 15 percent.
Related: Where Do You Get Your Drugs?
The deal includes a 10-year contract for Express Scripts to keep managing pharmacy benefits for WellPoint, which is based in Indianapolis. Enlarging St. Louis-based Express will give it more power to negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies, WellPoint's Braly said on a conference call yesterday, President Obama is pushing for lower healthcare costs as part of a move to expand coverage.
"There's a great cultural fit" between the two companies, Braly said. "There's a great fit on thinking about clinical outcomes focused on the consumer. There are many ways in which we think they are obviously the best transaction for us."
Since when?
WellPoint will use $2 billion from the purchase to increase an already disclosed share buyback to $4 billion, Braly said....
Well, I'm sure that is good for YOUR HEALTH, isn't it, 'murkn?
