Prescription Drugs for Feds: Big Business

Just in case you needed to be reminded that the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program is a big business, Bloomberg News reports that shares of CVS Caremark and Medco Health Solutions were up in trading this morning. That's due to an announcement yesterday by Blue Cross and Blue Shield that it had issued contracts to the two companies for pharmacy services covering the 4.7 million people in its Federal Employee Program. Caremark will handle retail pharmacy benefits management, which it estimates will generate about $4 billion a year in revenue. Medco will handle Blue Cross and Blue Shield's mail order prescription drug program. Caremark had handled both the retail and mail order operations since 2005.