US House committee sends warning letters to CVS, Cigna, UnitedHealth

The chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has warned CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) to “correct” statements their executives made during a committee hearing on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, or face possible legal action.

U.S. Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a committee statement Wednesday that it has sent letters to the CEOs of CVS’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx informing them that their remarks regarding PBM business practices “contradicted” the committee’s findings, along with those of the Federal Trade Commission. The hearing was held in July.

“The chief executives for CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optum Rx claimed they do not steer patients to PBM-owned pharmacies. The executives also made claims contradicting the Committee’s and FTC’s findings regarding contract negotiations, contract opt outs, and payments to pharmacies,” according to the statement released Wednesday.

The committee’s letters to the executives warned that they could face fines or jail time for making false statements to the committee and asked that they correct their testimonies by Sept. 11.