Midweek update

Healthcare Dive reports that Cigna's acquisition of prescription benefits manager Express Scripts is expect to close tomorrow.  In contrast to the CVS Health acquisition of Aetna, this closing is not subject to review by a federal court. The  Justice Department triggered federal court review of the CVS Health / Aetna deal by filing a lawsuit concerning the merger in order to ensure that Aetna sold off its Medicare Part D business. In retrospect that looks like overkill.

In other mergers and acquisitions news, the Wall Street Journal reports that

[Drug manufacturers] Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC plan to combine their consumer health-care units and eventually spin off the joint venture, creating the world’s largest seller of drugstore staples like Advil and Sensodyne toothpaste. The deal, announced Wednesday, will free up both companies to concentrate on prescription medicines, which tend to be more profitable if also higher risk.

The Federal News Network brings us up to date on resolution of FY 2019 appropriations.

As the Senate plans to consider a continuing resolution later on Wednesday that would avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, federal employees are still wondering whether they’ll get a raise in 2019. The prospects, at least for now, are grim.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed the continuing resolution, which funds the remaining agencies that still lack a full-year 2019 budget, through Feb. 8. The continuing resolution doesn’t include a proposed 1.9 percent pay raise for civilian employees in 2019, though a few Senate Democrats have said they’ll push for a budget anomaly in the CR that would adjust pay for civilian employees

Time will tell.

The FEHBlog noticed that OPM has posted on its website the OPM Inspector General's semi-annual report to Congress for the period ended September 30, 2018, and OPM's management response to that report.