: CVS stock drops after WSJ report on Blue Shield of California dropping pharma benefit services with its Caremark unit

CVS Health Corp. CVS stock was down 5.3% in premarket trades on Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Blue Shield of California is dropping CVS Health’s Caremark as its pharmacy-benefit manager. The nonprofit health plan with nearly 5 million members will instead weave together a patchwork of companies including Amazon.com’s AMZN home drug delivery service, retail pharmacies and the Mark Cuban-backed Cost Plus Drug Co. to access low-cost medications. Abarca Health LLC will process drug claims. Blue Shield told the newspaper it’s pursuing a simple net price structure aimed at removing hidden fees and rebates.

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