Thursday Tidbits

While we wait to see whether Congress can reach a budget agreement overnight, here are two AHIP PowerPoints and two earning reports to ponder:

• AHIP's uplifting presentation on the value of employer sponsored health care
• AHIP's helpful presentation on its initiative to address the opioid crisis.
• Healthcare Dive's report on CVS Health's 4th Quarter 2017 earnings. "CEO Larry Merlo said on the company's Q4 earnings call that 'nothing that has surfaced' has come as a surprise, adding that he still expects the deal to close in the second half of 2018," and
• CNBC's report on Gilead's 4th Quarter 2017 earnings. Gilead is the company that first brought the Hepatitis C cures to market at an astoundingly high price. Those glory days are over due to competition and the success of the drug.