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UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s deal to acquire Catamaran Corp. for about $12.8 billion in cash will bulk up its pharmacy-benefit business amid growing concern from employers and insurers about the rising costs of cutting-edge drugs. Catamaran, the fourth-largest pharmacy-benefit manager in the U.S. by volume of prescriptions processed, will be merged into UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx unit, the industry’s third-largest and part of the company’s Optum health-services arm. (Wilde Mathews and Walker, 3/30)

Whether the acquisition will benefit consumers may be an issue in the months ahead. Some experts suggest that the deal may weaken competition and prompt opposition from the Federal Trade Commission. Pharmacy benefit managers help negotiate with drug companies the prices of prescription drugs on behalf of employers, insurers and government agencies. The largest players in the industry include Express Scripts and CVS/Caremark. (Pfeifer, 3/30)

The nation's largest health insurer, UnitedHealth, will muscle up in its fight against rising specialty drug costs by spending more than $12 billion to buy pharmacy benefits manager Catamaran Corp. Pharmacy benefits managers, or PBMs, help negotiate the prices that customers pay for prescription drugs. They are seen as a key component in the push to contain rising specialty drug costs, an expense that could overwhelm parts of the health care system, especially the federal-state Medicaid program, insurers and other bill payers have warned. (Murphy, 3/30)

The nation’s largest health insurer, Minnetonka’s United­Health Group Inc., will have more clout to push back against high drug prices with a $12.8 billion merger announced Monday. (Carlson, 3/30)

You don't have to look far these days to find stories about the rising costs of prescription drugs. By one count, drug spending jumped 13 percent last year, the highest annual increase in more than a decade. And health insurers have spent the better part of the past year warning anyone who'll listen that the new medications will come with high price tags that will strain the health-care system's ability to afford such medical advances. (Millman, 3/30)