Employers and unions seek alternatives to control rising prescription drug costs

  • Foot Locker and Teamsters are parting ways with their drug-benefit managers
  • Employers and unions are frustrated with rising costs of prescription drugs
  • Foot Locker switched from OptumRx to a new drug-benefit manager
  • Teamsters fund in Philadelphia replaced CVS Health’s Caremark

Employers and unions are growing increasingly frustrated with the rising costs of prescription drugs and are taking action. Foot Locker, a footwear retailer, made the decision to drop UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx drug-benefit manager last year. Similarly, a Teamsters fund in Philadelphia recently replaced CVS Health’s Caremark with a new drug-benefit manager. The move comes as employers and unions seek alternatives to better control their spending on prescription drugs and address the issue of soaring costs.

Public Companies: Foot Locker (FL), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), CVS Health (CVS)
Private Companies: undefined, undefined
Key People:


Factuality Level: 8
Justification: The article provides specific examples of employers and unions switching drug-benefit managers due to rising costs. It does not contain irrelevant or misleading information, sensationalism, redundancy, or opinion masquerading as fact. The information provided is concise and directly related to the main topic. There is no bias or personal perspective presented as universally accepted truth. The article does not contain invalid arguments, logical errors, inconsistencies, fallacies, faulty reasoning, false assumptions, or incorrect conclusions. Overall, the article is factual and provides relevant information.

Noise Level: 3
Justification: The article provides some information about employers and unions being dissatisfied with their prescription drug benefit managers, but it lacks in-depth analysis, evidence, and actionable insights. It is a short news piece that briefly mentions a couple of examples without providing a broader context or exploring the consequences of these decisions.

Financial Relevance: Yes
Financial Markets Impacted: The article does not provide specific information about financial markets or companies impacted.

Presence of Extreme Event: No
Nature of Extreme Event: No
Impact Rating of the Extreme Event: No
Justification: The article discusses the frustration of employers and unions with rising costs of prescription drugs and their decisions to switch drug-benefit managers. However, there is no mention of any extreme events or specific financial market impacts.

Reported publicly: www.wsj.com