CVS’ latest choice to divide its retail pharmacies from its insurance coverage and pharmacy-benefit companies has raised hopes of client financial savings as Americans proceed to reel from high prices of dwelling.
The breakup of one of the greatest health-care conglomerates in the US has the potential to deliver about decrease prices on some companies, though that stays to be seen, specialists advised The Post.
A CVS Pharmacy in Los Angeles in May 2024. Getty Images
“It is potentially a good thing, however, it will depend on how the regulators enforce the separation,” said Doug Hoey, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association.
About 25% of the nation has their prescriptions managed by CVS, with about 10% receiving direct insurance coverage companies from the company.
The breakup of one of the greatest health-care conglomerates in the US could deliver decrease prices on some companies. Getty Images
CVS Health will keep its insurance coverage company, Aetna, and its pharmacy advantages supervisor, Caremark under one roof. Meanwhile, CVS Pharmacy will embrace the company’s retail division, with 9,000 storefronts and mail-to-order infrastructures in another company, with the split-up going into impact by early 2028.
Will drug costs at CVS pharmacies go down?
The change in the company’s provide chain could enable some wiggle room for competitors and might disincentivize the pharmacy advantages supervisor, Caremark, from attempting to maximize earnings from CVS pharmacy — translating to some financial savings on drug prices.
“Caremark pays its affiliated CVS retail pharmacies, which results in higher premiums in cost sharing for patients,” Emma Freer, a senior healthcare fellow at the American Economic Liberties, advised The Post.
“So because they’re spinning off their retail pharmacies under this proposal, it would foreclose that particular avenue for that type of gaming.”
In a assertion, CVS maintained there has always been a firewall between the two entities and that they don’t affect each other.
Dr. Mariana Socal, a Johns Hopkins professor who research the pharmaceutical market, advised The Post she doesn’t see costs going down because she doesn’t believe this break up is really separating Caremark and CVS.
A pharmacist talks to a buyer as a technician organizes drugs cabinets at a CVS Pharmacy in Miami Beach, Fla., in October 2025. Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
“There is no change,” she predicted.
Will certain sorts of medicine be affected more than others?
CVS Health is preserving its specialty pharmacy companies in-house. CVS usually doles out prescriptions for cancer medicine, a number of sclerosis therapy, hormonal therapy and weight-loss medicine at the specialty websites, carrying a increased price tag.
Freer, Hoey, and Socal believe the company’s break up could really deliver increased specialty drug costs.
“The specialty pharmacy may use this new well to help replace some of those profits and revenue that might be dried up with these new regulations,”Hoey said.
Will Aetna insurance coverage prices go down?
Socal does not see premiums going down, saying what might have introduced prices down would have been separating Caremark from Aetna.
CVS agreed to buy Aetna in 2017 for $69 billion, and at the time there was already growing scrutiny over the relationships between insurers and pharmaceutical benefit managers.
Two males stand in a queue inside a CVS Pharmacy in Miami Beach, Fla., in August 2025. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Nearly 10 years later, that scrutiny has only grown. The Department of Labor finalized a rule last week that would require pharmacy advantages managers to share price information and funds with drugmakers.
Could issues change between now and 2028?
CVS Health CEO David Joyner said on CNBC that came about in half because of growing lawmaker scrutiny of healthcare conglomerates and how they revenue off proudly owning giant parts of the provide chain.
“Companies need to navigate the regulatory environment, and we are setting ourselves up for success,” he said.
Hoey advised The Post it’s finally up to regulators to see if the split-up yields advantages for customers.
