Fresh off underperforming Wall Street’s expectations in the fourth quarter, Cigna said it would work to lower costs for its customers amid widespread discontent with the healthcare system.

Cigna Group plans to make changes to help lower out-of-pocket cost of prescription drugs, the company said on Wednesday, as it responds to criticism over the role of its pharmacy benefit manager in driving up drug costs.

Express Scripts aims to ensure that patients directly benefit from its negotiations with drug manufacturers. The new approach will protect patients from paying inflated list prices for medications, instead providing them with the lower prices negotiated by the PBM, according to a Jan. 29 news release from the company.

In a recent antitrust arbitration ruling, Prime Therapeutics, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) owned by 19 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, was found guilty of engaging in horizontal price-fixing in collaboration with Express Scripts,

It’s the latest step from pharmacy benefit managers to respond to relentless criticism from politicians and regulators over prescription drug costs.

Evernorth Health Services, a subsidiary of The Cigna Group (NYSE: CI), today announced several steps it is taking to improve costs and transparency around pharmacy benefits. These changes aim to help patients benefit directly from Express Scripts' negotiations to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

An arbitrator has determined Prime Therapeutics violated federal and state antitrust laws against the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and independent pharmacies. | Prime Therapeutics, a PBM owned by Blue Cross plans,

Q4 2024 Earnings Conference Call January 30, 2025 8:30 AM ETCompany ParticipantsDavid Cordani - Cigna Group's Chairman,

Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bullish approach towards Cigna CI, and it's something market players shouldn't ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today.

Cigna (CI) stock falls as the managed care company's Q4 2024 earnings miss the consensus due to an unexpected rise in medical costs. Read more here.

Cigna said its medical loss ratio was 87.9% in Q4 2024, compared to 82.2% in the prior-year quarter. For the full-year 2024, MLR was 83.2%, which was still higher compared to the 81.3% its insurance unit reported in 2023.

Cigna has deleveraged substantially after acquiring Express Scripts in late 2018 when Cigna's debt rose to over $42 billion, or debt/capital of 51%. Management has made good progress on its deleveraging goal in recent years through debt repayment and profit growth.