nn williams is the former aetna ceo. he chairman and ceo of r w-2 and toby cosgrove is former president and ceo of the cleveland clinics, h whereis now current lee executive adviser. ineat to see you bot. thank you for jous. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you. >> ron, let me start with you. here's what pussels me about the aetna/cvs deal. iteems their motivations are at odds with each other. when you raise drug prices it's better profitability for the drug companies and taers. but the insurance companies would seem to want lower prices they w lt to covers of the price of those particular drugs. how is this merger going to transform and make health care better for customhes? >> i think underlying idea in my mind -- i have to say i'm noan insider. i have no inside information related to the transaction. it's really not aboutpricing. it's about creating more value in the health care delivery if we look at chronic patients, only about 50% of the prescriptions writtenor tients who have diabetes, hypertension, dirdiovasc

deal to acquire humana fell apart aetna, a huge deal in which cvs buying aetna and then this case.hen it comes to antitrust, the two may be on the same time line, cvv and aetna and cigna and express scripts guys they are talking about it being akreetive, the stock price is getting hit. you can see that down over 6% right now. you do have the falloff from the disappearance of the anthem contract with express scripts beginning sort of working through 2020 when that goes away this deal they expect will close by the end of this year they hope we'll have one year under their belt before that goes away not that express scripts wasn't planning for it already. >> the accretion makes it so there may be a cash and stock discount, when i think about accretion and how cheap cvs was able to raise money. what a great to put companies together and bezos and dimon and buffett, do you want to be up against that >> they mentioned on the call they've been talking for months and i know that is the case prior to when we first heard about the amazon jp morgan berkshir effort on health care costs. and by

we're very happy to have this partner with the aetna foundation as you know, u.s.tutions for decades, best colleges, best hospitals. this is really an expansion of the type of quality data journalism that we're doing. aetna and the foundation has done work in their communities across the country for decades, and so with aetna approaching us, we had a terrific partnership to take what we do best in terms of ranking and simple journalism and work with the aetna foundation in terms of the work they do in their communities. >> what were some of these areas? >> in all of our rankings, we have categories -- in this case we had ten categories, everything from population health, economy, education, public safety, all of that, and then we used 80 data sources, 80 metrics with public data from the center for disease control, u.s. census data, all of that to make sure we had the type of quality data that we typically use to ensure that we had, you know, the quality rankings that we wanted. >> mark, does a zip code really have an impact on how you're going to do? >> your zip c

aetna's c-e-o says the company believes its customers should benefit from those discounts and rebatesmove will likely affect about three million customers who are enrolled in a certain type of job-based insurance coverage. the actions come amid president trump's pledge to lower the cost of prescription drugs. the the warriors.... still without steph curry... kevin durant... klay thompson... or draymond green... hosting the indiana pacers at oracle arena... right now... warriors... all right... they lead by nine at the half(wipe to liangelo ball) the middle ball brother... the middle ball brother... liangelo ball... who just scored 72 points in a "big baller challenge" game in lithuania... is making himself available for the nba draft ball is expected to work out for some nba teams and will participate at the professional basketball combine in may... most experts don't expect for him to be drafted ball... the brother of los angeles lakers rookie lonzo ball... has been playing professionally in lithuania with his yougr brother lemelo... after leaving ucla due to a suspension from his sh

cvs announced it would buy aetna for $61 billion.will be back here in two minutes with more news. looking . the city tops a new list of happiest cities in america. >>> right now looking live in fremont. if you live in that area i've got good news for you this morning. the city tops a new list of happiest cities in america. wallet hub compared places and fremont is number one, san jose comes in third place, san francisco is 13th, oakland 18th. >>> coming up on "today in the bay," another check of your weather and traffic. vianey is following the latest storm. vianey? >>> storm ranger is up, working hard right now, i'm tracking the latest storm now moving through san francisco. i will give you the timeline coming up. you could generate your own energy, at home. or to save energy, unplug unused appliances. do your thing, with energy upgrade california. coverage.. >>> right now at 5:00 our microclimate weather alert coverage continues. it's going to be a wet commute for much of the bay area. a live look outside across all the bridges thi

sale to find the aetna acquisition is $40 billion.e were expecting it to be around $45 billion because they need to fund the aetna acquisition. it will now be at $40 billion. this is one of the largest corporate bond offerings ever. this has a acted what treasury markets did earlier. we are hearing the size will be at $40 billion. coming up, trade war versus nuclear war. the threat of tariffs waiting on investors as south korea says north korea could come to the table to discuss denuclearization. more on how it upset markets, ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ shery: this is bloomberg markets. i am shery ahn. vonnie: i am vonnie quinn. domestic andgh geopolitical factors and south korea says north korea is willing to consider denuclearization, signaling potential progress as a trade war hangs over the united states. and then there is the bond market reaction. here with us is the head of u.s. rates strategy, so a lot to digest. not speaking of the cvs placement of $40 billion, how does that bond offering impact markets already watching geop

aetna shares finished downto 1 168.36. after the bell, lululemon said thattrength over sea coupled with strong e-commerce sales here in the u.s. helped beat on the top and bottomline. shares initially rose sharply in the extended session but they finished the regular season down 2%. also after the bell, nike announced it has extended its partnership with t nfl. under that deal nike will continue to provide players who under contract to nike with footwear and gloves for game days. nike shares initially rose in the extended session. they ended the regular day up a fraction to 66.17. >>> it goes without saying that classrooms today don't look like they did when you and we kids. gone are the ace days of number 2 pencils andns sharpe technology is playing a bigger role school. and apple is fighting for a bigger presence in america's classrooms. >> reporter: chalk boand notebooks are a thing of the past in america's classrooms. today, they are outfitted with lap tops, tablets, and smart boardsen to prepare stud for 21st century

are we just increasing the margin for these guys what do regulators think of this they let the cvs/aetna deal go do they let this go? >> i think on what grounds do you not. it's interesting the pharmacy benefit manager business model has been under fire in terms of drug pricing, the list price, the whole rebate system, the entire food chain for pharmaceuticals got under scrutiny now you're folded in with the insurer -- >> maybe there's some cover? >> you no longer have to say here's our business story, this is where our models come from. that stopped being a selling point for a while. >> with jpmorgan, berkshire hathaway and amazon teaming up, they say they can find margins everybody you talk to says look at the pharmacy benefits managers first >> at closing the combined company will make an incrementa investment of 2$200 million in its charitable contributions >> what is the per share amount? >> this is like broadcom announcing yesterday that they will invest in r & d, we need to tell you this is how we plan to do it. >> maybe larry fink will look more kindly on the transaction as a res

my name is kirk astroth aetna grad

in 2015, aetna agreed to buy humana, but that deal was blocked.eard about a potential tie up moving forward between the likes of jpmorgan, berkshire hathaway and amazon. so lots of consolidation going on at the moment express scripts itup 14% in the premarket. >>> u.s. futures are around the flat line which is where they ended yesterday, which is a vast improvement from the market moves we saw 24 hours ago before the open on this show when we were down over 1%. we ended flat for the s&p, slightly higher for the nasdaq, slightly lower for the dow this morning we have the dow slightly lower as is the s&p the nasdaq slightly higher markets enjoyed that decent day on the market front and talk of a carve out for various allies with the tariffs. ten-year treasury note, 2.88 is what we're looking at now. we'll look at the european side today, mario draghi and the ecb have their meeting and press conference in a few hours time. >>> president trump was expected to make an announcement on tariffs this afternoon a senior administration official tells nbc new

was teaming up with berkshire hathaway and jpmorgan chase to try to simplify coverage and cvs and aetna have recently teamed up. >>> san francisco is moving forward with a project meant to help hundreds of families. this is the future site of the family connections ntilikina at mission street and seneca avenue. when completed the center will offer a wide range of family services, including child care, lit racy programs and granted parent support groups. it's set to open by early october and will focus on helping low income immigrant families. >>> a call to action from interim mayor masrk farrell. this morning he wants self-driving cars to prove their technology is safe in san francisco. the examiner sent a letter to 50 companies urging them to volunteer for safety testses with the san francisco police department. that way the city will know how to respond if an accident were to happen. right now san francisco has no regulatory kror ltory control o self-driving vehicles. that falls under the dmv. >>> new food options are coming to the san jose airport and one is a burger chain that alrea

the deal would combine vvs's drugstores with aetna's insurance business.ck after the break with more news. time is - - -. we have full team coverage of the weather this morning on >>> welcome back. the time now is 6:56. we have full team coverage of the weather this morning on "today in the bay." tracking the latest storm to hit the bay area. >> one of the top stories you need to know before you head out the door this morning, more weather coverage in just a moment, but first other breaking news we're covering for you this morning. >>> coming down in just our past hour, president trump confirming he will replace secretary of state rex tillerson with cia director mike pompeo. president says gina haspel the ci a's deputy director will now lead that agency. she will be the first woman to hold that post. president trump just spoke before getting on a helicopter headed towards california. he says that he and tillerson had differences when it came to foreign policy. the "today" show will continue our coverage coming up in just a few minutes. >>> in other big new

it follows pharmacy giant cvs' to acquire insurer aetna. but this deal was a surprise. >> there is a little bit of shock right now. >> reporter: the cigna and cvs mergers aim at competing head to head with unitedhealth which already owns a pharmacy benefit firm and integrates benefits. >>f this deal goes through, all three pbms will own a large health plan. they control 80% of the prescription volume in the u.s. if you think about it, there's 300-ish health plans out there who will have to do business with someone they already mpete with. >> reporter: integrating health and pharmacy benefits can generate big sings by balancing subscription costs with overall health care. >> if i'm responsible for only your drug spending, i would want to make sure you spend as little as our diabetes medication possible. but if you don't, it could result in a costly hospitalization in the future, so maybe iou make sure have no co-pay on your medication. >> reporter: at a time when prescription drugs are under attack, the key is to make the consumers get savin

. >>> cvs health plans to issue more than $40 billion of new debt tocqund itssition of aetna. it will be the largest corporate bond sale in more an two years. and it's also being looked at as a bellwher for the health of the corporate bond market. >>> target is spending a lot of money to remake itself. but it's coming at a cost. the discount retailer missed earnings estimates and issued a disappointing outlook. and that sent the shares ofta et down more than 4%. courtney reagan spoke with ta rget's ceo about what's going on at e company and its future. >> reporter: target's holiday quarter turned out the strongest sales in three year online sales brewed nearly 30%. in-store saleser increased a falling last year. but there was a problem. cost for the discount retailer rose a lot. emplee wages and a big investment in its stores cut into profit. target's outlook was also disappointing because all that spending will continue. target executives met with investors here ininneapolis near its headquarters as it begins year two of a three-year, $7 billion strategy to grow. >> we're goi

the deal would combine cvs drugstores with aetna's insurance business. art.d in beautiful detail. or painted in luxurious strokes. and in rare cases... both. even if no one in your home smokes, secondhand smoke can be closer than you think. secondhand smoke from a neighbor's apartment can enter your home through air vents, through light fixtures and even through cracks in the walls and the floors. secondhand smoke is toxic. especially to children. protect your family. visit tobaccofreeca.com. it can be sculpted in beautiful detail. or painted in luxurious strokes. and in rare cases... both. one of our team members just shot this video fro >>> welcome back to you on this tuesday morning. look at the rain coming down across the bay area. one of our team members just shot this video from you are own nbc bay area parking lot. open everybody rolled up their windows. share what it looks like outside your window right now. >>> the u.s. postal service says mail could be at risk, this after a man robbed a mail carrier in northern california. these are new surveillance

this is the second deal to combine the health insurer and pharmacy together following that recent aetna cvs deal. reggie? >> jessica, happening today, hundreds of middle school students in san jose are planning a walkout. they're demanding the resignation of several members of the board of trustees at alum rock. this is from january. k of ials upset at the district transparency and accountability. the superintendent is urging students to remain on campus during today's walkout. >>> 4:35. happening now, janitors on strike at buildings in downtown san francisco as part of international women's day. abc news was in the financial district when they walked off the job last night. the seiu will hold a rally at noon today to demand higher pay and better working conditions for janitors. women make up the majority of janitorial workers in the u.s. >>> the san francisco police officer charged with hitting two men with his car and leaving the scene. chris coors became known as the hot cop of the castro. he left the accident scene because he felt threatened by a crowd of people who recognized him.

aetna's c-e-o says the company believes its customers should benefit from those discounts and rebatesove will likely affect about three million customers who are enrolled in a certain type of job-based insurance coverage. the actions come amid president trump's pledge to lower the cost of prescription drugs. (robin) coming up on the kron four morning news... it's really happening. the raiders are moving to sin city... and their new stadium is now in the works. find out how much the team is shelling out... for their new home. (robin) and here's a live look outside...from the sutro cam. no major hot spots. bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. san mateo bridge less then 30 min from 880 to 101. ( robin ) the raiders are getting closer and closer to moving to las vegas. tuesday the nfl approved the teams financing plan for their new stadium in las vegas. it's a 1- point-8-billion dollar project... which includes 7-hundred-and-50 million dollars in public funds... a substantial raiders investment... and a 200- million-dollar loan from the league. the raiders plan on pla

bond saleking off a to fund their acquisition of aetna. more on that deal next.m new york, this is bloomberg. ♪ scarlet: cvs kicking off the third-biggest corporate bond sale on record to fund its $67.5 billion acquisition of aetna. the move tests the appetite of the corporate bond market, off to its worst annual start in decades. joining us is molly smith to discuss. what is interesting is cvs has looked into selling $45 billion of debt, and instead will only sell $40 billion. molly: i would not take that as a sign the deal did not do well, because it definitely did. we saw orders of three times what cvs was offering, so the demand was there for a deal like this, but it was really important to get the pricing solid on such a massive deal, especially when investment-grade debt markets have been off to a horrible start this year. julia: the longest term was 30 year. what was the pickup over treasuries? molly: a little under 2%. julia: i look at the debt of these two companies and look at this walking load of debt to finance this deal, and i get nervous. molly: you

companies like aetna have seen that and in the bottom line have a chief minefulness officer and measuringct to the tune of $3,000 a year per employee in increased productivity. >> gallop pl poll found through third of employees aren't engaged at work. is that part of what's driving all of this? what if the employees don't want to be engaged? >> employees don't know how to -- what they are supposed to do or how to keep the attention where it needs to be. what people are minding in the leadership development and when they try to create healthier company cultures, if you create opportunities for mindfulness for the intentional use of attention then people get more done and they also have more well being while doing it. >> you study with the dalai lama. what did you take away from that and how much is incorporated into this. >> i bring in -- i translate what i spent a hundred tais, six months learning in retreats into actionable tools that people can use quickly in their busy lives today. >> i can learn all this from the book. >> you can. >> leahy, i want to thank you for your time today. >>

is that it increases not only your health and well-being, but your productivity so, companies like aetnae seen that in their bottom line, have a chief mindfulness officer and are measuring the impact, and it's to the tune of $3,000 a year per employee in increased productivity >> a gallup poll recently found that two-thirds of employees are not engaged while they're at work is that part of what's driving all of this? what if the employees don't want to be engaged? >> employees don't know how to -- what they're supposed to be doing or how to keep their attention where it needs to be so, what people are finding in their leadership development and when they're trying to create healthier company cultures -- if you create opportunities for mindfulness for the intentional use of attention, then people get more done and they also have more well-being while doing it >> you studied with the dalai lama what sort of practices did you learn? what did you take away from that and how much of that is incorporated into this >> i bring in -- i translate what i spent 100 days, six months learning in retre

. >> cbs kicking off the third biggest corporate bond sale on record to fund its acquisition of aetnatest the appetite of the corporate bond market, off to its worst and you will start in decades. there is plenty of demand, but the interesting thing is that looked intoad selling off $45 billion of debt, but instead they went with $40 billion. >> we saw orders of three times offering, so certainly the demand was therefore a deal like this, but it was important to get the pricing solid on such a massive deal, especially when, like you said, investment grade markets have been off to a horrible start this year. >> the bank of japan and governor kuroda said that he inflationting me target will not trigger an exit from policy stimulus. he also says he saw u.s. trade policy is a risk, but he reiterated that the fundamentals are good. >> he was very good at talking about the exit. saying that about it could happen in fiscal 2019. he said the reason he said that was because he thinks there is a high probability that inflation will hit the 2% level at that point and that is why they might do th

you had an interview with the ceo of aetna. explain what they are doing . some of the discounts they get right now on pharmaceuticals to individuals at the pharmacy counter. this is a really big deal, especially for people with high deductible plans who are particularly sick and paying a lot upfront for their drugs. this should give them lower prices so it does not start until next year. want to put up a chart showing the rate of change in prescription drug prices month by month. you can see it's a noisy and goes way up to over 7% and sometimes down to 2%. overall this is a big concern for a lot of consumers. the president of the united states said he will have a press conference to announce some changes to get those drug prices down. zachary: what's going on as you have seen aetna and united health take these provid stakes to getive on the right side of the debate . he is putting it on these drug companies and saying they are charging high prices. julia: you have all sorts of factors with the amazon affect and the impact they are having with broader consol

they are trying to fund their acquisition of aetna.gathering $49 billion as temporary financing. let's check out the markets. we are five minutes away from the end of the tuesday session. stocks are rising. investors concerned about the outlook or potential for a global trade war. stocks rising in london and frankfurt and paris. dollar down, euro up. that seems to be the trade. the pound also rising against the dollar. euro up against the pound by .3%. i will leave you with the bond board. ♪ mark: i'm mark barton. let's check out how european equities finished the tuesday session. italy is the country to watch. in the wake of the inconclusive election commissioners spell. -- shares fell. europe as a whole gaining for a second consecutive day. the concerns about a global trade war diminishing somewhat could german carmakers certainly under pressure from trump escalating the war of words with european union on trade. the be exposed to tariffs. bmw have natural hedges in place 2014,e the blow since producing more cars in the u.s. then the

cvs will buy aetna.rt is looking into health care with the pharmacy business, but getting humana gives it greater clout. >>> iphone users can turn off a feature that slows down older iphones. it updated the operating systems and has a list of features and fixes like the ability to disable a feature that slows down older iphones. apple previously admitted to slowing older models to save the battery outrages customers. apple added timely privacy features allowing customers to see the data and what it collects. >> i'm sticking with my blackberry. >> i'm sticking with the apple. >> i don't like to deal with that. >>> "early start" continues right now. >>> the russia special counsel trying to connect the dots on collusion. to make it happen on a renewed focus on a campaign aide in touch with an intel agent before the election. >> important work remains to guarantee the defeat of the violent extremists. >>> we are coming out of syria soon. let the other people take care of it now. >> a disconnect with the pres

that with the at&t and time warner deal and what the pushback will be with something like cvs and aetna trying these deals but relators are taking a closer look. you are looking at mimicking the european model where they could look at a broader view of the market. alex: one name we haven't mentioned directly is apple. apple may be supporting the broadcom bid for qualcomm. by doing that, it makes the strength of the chips going into competitor smartphones is not as good an apple is able to develop more in-house, which gives them an edge. one has to wonder what apple's sentiment is and where they would prefer the chip will fall at the and of the day. >> i think apple would prefer a fragmented market across the board so they could pick one supplier against other to get best prices and not have any strategic alignment of a key component with any given supplier, be it qualcomm, broadcom, or intel. caroline: brooke, as you see the merry-go-round continue, how will investors vote on this particular element? we saw a movement in the board of broadcom and qualcomm and whether or not we want to s

. ♪ >> cvs kicking off the third biggest bond sale with aetna. the move has the at appetite. in decades. plenty of demand share, but cbs -- cvs only sold 40 billion. >> i wouldn't take it as a sign that the deal did not go well. it definitely did. we saw orders of three times what cvs was offering. the demand was there, but it was important to get the pricing solid on such a massive deal when they've been off to a horrible start this year. ♪ >> the bank of japan governor set hitting the 2% target will not trigger an immediate exit. he thought u.s. trade policy is a risk, but reiterated that economic fundamentals are good. >> he was careful about talking about exit. he was asked about the remarks he made about saying it could happen in fiscal 2019, he said the only reason he said that is because there is a high probability that inflation will hit the 2% level at that point and that is why they might do the exit. it is not that we would just automatically start talking about an exit when we hit fiscal 2019. it is incumbent on price moves and this is based on his expectations of

. >> aetna adopted a similar policy and hopefully the rest of the industry finds its way to that position. >> you think about the need to have people think healthier and i am a person who works very hard are there people health risk because they take their job too seriously? >> i don't think so. it is a good stress reliever, work >> they of got mindfulness rooms, yoga rooms. if you wanted to lower your cost of health care, would you tell people, you know what, be mindful and get those employees in one of those rooms. is that a sensible thing to do >> it is, actually we adopted our mindfulness businesses today it is more in a venture format we are, early stage in its development. and we are incubating and modifying the model. stress relief is an important factor in managing your health also, and many of those efforts make a lot of sense. >> there are a lot of people who make fun, when i say i am trying to be mindful, people are like, are you kidding me, that is something in san francisco are there people who are trying to take care of their mind >> a lot of our engagement tools that we rol

things are happening with all of the payers, united, aetna, now of course what's amazon going to do >on, jpmorgan and berkshire hathaway teaming up and saying we're going to try to find a way, not only for our employees but something corporate america at large can find a solution to try and cut the growth that we've seen in health care costs. where do you think they might have some of the best ideas and best ways of tackling that >> well, you know, we've spoken with them and i think they're looking at this consolidation story. the whole health care vertical in fact, data driven answers and get that to patients how do you remove the intermediary steps they say, no, no, no, we save a ton of money when it comes to medicare. >> all of these industries have matured and they're rather well done and very efficient but are they all necessary that's the key point can you go directly to the patient with some of these answers and some of these products that's a complex area. i don't think there are bad companies in there but in that space can that be simplified. >> it sounds like you think the a

off the third biggest corporate bond sale on record to fund its acquisition of aetna.the market was off to his worst annual start in decades. there's funded given what is interesting is that cbs looked into selling their debt. 45 going dollars with but instead they went with 40 billion dollars. >> we saw orders of three times what cbs was offering so certainly the demand was there for a deal like this. but really it was important to get the pricing solid on such a massive deal, especially when investing great markets have been off to a horrible start this year. that henor kuroda said thinks the inflation target want trigger an immediate exit from policy stimulus, he also says he saw u.s. trade policy as a rift but he reiterated he could only say that fundamentals are good. >> he was very good at talking about exit. he was asked about saying it could happen in fiscal 2019. he said the reason he said that was because he thinks there is a high probability that inflation will hit the 2% level at that point and that is why they might do the exit then, he said is not that we

i wonder what it means for cvs and aetna.nteresting that the health insurers are going -- >> you notice what's taking over the strip mall, urgent care. it's becoming a retail business, we have just under 80 million baby boomers that are getting older requiring more health care, you bring it to them, you do it in retail environment that makes all the sense in the world maybe it can be more affordable. cheryl: we are in a real antiregulatory environment but right now under president trump and this administration, we have seen a record-setting amount of regulations pulled back, i have to ask, do you think regulators will take issue? >> it's interesting, the shareholders of the cvs-eata deal approved it, and the question is how is the justice department going feel about that, obviously, there's a big concern amongst voters about rising health care costs, there's going to be pressure on the government to let that go through, if the impetus were doing to keep the cost down but we also have the at&t deal on trial right now and there

rights to dictate what they wanted to happen and they're able to get the higher price when you are aetnae, and you signed off the deal as they did earlier this week, who knows what's going to happen at aetna or cbs time warner signed off on that deal and shareholders voted it a long, long time ago. what if they did not vote on it so soon. sometimes the intervening time period can be positive for the acquired company the business does a little better or there is a revaluation of their industry some way it is interesting to know how how long everything takes to get done and whether or not the shareholder books should be moved back >> cigna deal, how long is that going to go up >> people do hate that deal? >> yes >> they hate it. cigna was promising to get big they may hate it but it is not going to cross >> not close for a long time don't know for the vote for cigna or express >> amazon and whole foods happened pretty quickly. >> no leaking around that deal it got done quick. >> still disrupting everybody. kroger, that kroger corner was not great but that has not taken into account of what

remember lyft and bumble, gucci and aetna are supporting march for our lives this saturday.ooking at what other businesses are doing to support that march or influence the general conversation here and why they do it what are the financial factors they have to weigh before making a decision that can be controversial for some customers. >> the economic and capitalistic approach to promote activism in the marketplace. >> my pick is from the w "washington post." we live in a world of uncertainty and tech is making it worse the digital revolution has tended to take power from large institutions and organizations and transfer it to individuals waiting for certainty is no longer a luxury available to the most powerful agencies the future will belong to those who act wisely but decisively in spite of imperfect knowledge it talks about technology has enabled the individual to become much more in control of their destiny, now companies are looking for that leverage again. i look at it with facebook about why companies look for the information they do, why people like cambridge analyt

such a tie-up would propel walmart into the largest health care insurer, cvs' $68 billion deal for aetnahumana are working together. the two offer prescription drug plan for medicare recipients and they're offering some prescriptions for as little as a dollar as long as the customers pick up their drugs, you guessed it at a walmart pharmacy. and walmart active in reducing health care costs negotiating directly for providers for coverage and cutting out the pesky middle man, the insurer, shares of humana were up 8% late thursday, walmart shares were down. the markets are closed for good friday holiday, we won't know until monday. trish: touting the firing of the va secretary is causing more chaos in the trump administration. the president did have legitimate reasons to give him the boot. very legitimate reasons. you think that the mainstream media would be okay with that. they'd say okay, well, this guy deserved to be fired, and that was the right move. but instead, they can't give the president any credit at all so framing this as more chaos. howard kurtz, our media critic is here, he's

aetna also adopted a similar policy and hopefully the rest of the industry gets to the same positionbite from the future, stick around and watch the rest of jim's interview with david wichmann tonight on "mad money" at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. mike, a weird question about this, but what good can united health do on this front? i mean, how much good? >> you know, i think they -- they touch a lot of parts of health care. i do think that they are integrated enough to do a little bit of good. i don't think aetna has where it's seeing everybody saying, no, people -- healthy behaviors say, it's all about the last month of care before death >> so there's so many cross currents where the major -- the role of the people in the middle of this versus those closer to the patients >> exactly >> it feels like, for years, we just had inflation in the system at every juncture, and now the -- opposite of that happens. now every's pushing back >> allowing for a lot of takers in the middle, what people are now kind of, the backlash, and as sets pharmacy managers, and there was supposed to be an instrume

welcome back time for the blitz aetna shareholders approving the acquisition by cvs >> hopefully we'llee lower costs and hopefully not less competition. you ha that seems to be the direction. ultimately for cvs can we get any form of a bounce i'd like to buy the stock but the stock just trades to poorly and continues to do so even with the deal >> steph, you mentioned hd supply earlier they beat on top and bottom line stock is up 2% >> a very good report. margins came in line a little bit higher rebound prices i think that goes away as you go through the year the stock trades at 12.5 times forward estimate they're a full taxpayer. 100% usa a good story for this year >> century aluminum is soaring today following an upgrade to outperform we have talked about this stock before >> century aluminum got a bmo upgrade a couple days ago. cowen has been all over this space. steel dynamics and a number of others they set a $30 target on a $21 stock. stock is up 4% today like it. i think it goes close to 30. i don't know how close >> tech is the story of late is that going to continue? >> we lik

papers say companies including united health, aetna and anthem are using programs called cross-walkinge government pays bonuses to companies with top-rated plans have are customers in those plans means more money for the insureds >>> now to more on pharma space. key cholesterol drug data is out. meg with details >> that drug made was shown to reduce the risk of cardiac event like stroke over the weekend the drug was associated with a lower rate of deaths during the study compared with placebos important findings that investors hope is for use of the medicine and it competes with a similar medicine made by amgen they were both approved in 2015 because millions of americas have heart disease and cholesterol, it is expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue. instead, they've been commercial flops combined to $29 million one reason is their price. data shows even when doctors are writing prescriptions for these drugs they're getting rejected more than half the time by held insureds another reason is that the drugs haven't been approved because of cardiac deaths or events even on t

cvs pharmacy will buy aetna.business, but humana will give it greater clout. >>> iphone users can now turn off the feature to slow down the older phones. it updated the operating system and includes a list of features and the ability to disable the feature to slow down older phones which apple admitted to slowing down to save the battery outraging customers. apparent le added features to a you to see the data apple collects and what the company uses that data for. >> i have had no problems. >>> laura ingraham went after a parkland survivor. now his social media campaign has advertisers fleeing her show on fox. we will tell you what ingraham is saying now. elieve in a fit for all. maybelline's fit me foundation. fits skin tone and texture. blurs pores. controls shine. our most diverse shades ever. maybelline's fit me matte + poreless. only from maybelline new york. if you'd have told me three years ago... that we'd be downloading in seconds, what used to take... minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that

donations from all over the place including the like of gucci and also a number of corporate members like aetnand some sad news in the business world wayne huizenga has died at the age of 80. he founded waste management, blockbuster video and auto nation, he was also an owner of the doll finus, marlins and panthers and he will be missed >>> that's mewes update this hour scott, back to you >> business icon >> absolutely. >> in the state of florida few bigger than he frequent guest on this network throughout the years ad> straight ahead, we are tri trading wynn, square, kb, target halftime's back after this it was my very first car accident. i called usaa and the first thing they asked was 'are you ok?' they always thank you for your service, which is nice because as a spouse you serve too. we're the hayles and we're usaa members for life. when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today. >>> hi, everybody. coming up on "power lunch" at the top of th

cvs said it would by aetna, disney buying fox, cigna bought to buy express scripts.ut no opposition to any of those deals. which whether opposition to the at&t deal is politically motivated. >> this is a deal we with ll no approve in my administration because it will too much concentration of power in the hands of too few. >> but if you want to talk about too much power in the hands of too few, shouldn't we at least be asking about amazon, apple, facebook and google? in a moment an nyu professor whose students get recruited by these giants, despite his personal view that, quote, these behemoths enjoy unfettered domination and hoard riches on a scale not seen since the monopolies of the gilded age. how big are they? consider that amazon with a market cap of $591 billion is worth more to the stock market than walmart, costco, t.j. maxx, target, ross, best by, nordstrom, macy's, jcpenney, dillards and sears combined. this is a timely subject where this week brought news that toys r us will shutter or sell all of its stores and amazon is partly to blame. this failure was

this follows other consolidation in the industry including the $69 billion merger between cvs and aetna recent move by amazon, berkshire hathaway and jpmorgan forming a separate nonprofit company focused on lowering employee healthcare costs. these merge he is are being looked at by the healthcare -- these mergers are being looked at by the healthcare industry as a weigh to lower drug costs which rose on a large-scale over the years. we had a big gain from last week up to 231,000 unemployed claims but last week was a 48- year low and the overall number is still low enough to suggest a very strong job market. federal reserve reporting that a lot of employers across the country are struggling to find qualified applicants. >>> the stock market off to a good start this morning. right now the dow moving higher by over 140 points. nasdaq gaining 32. the s&p it's up by 10. back to you. >> thank you, jason brooks from kcbs radio. >>> utility companies say that more than 110,000 customers are now without power. it's a result of yet another major snowstorm to hit the area. the storm is also causi

this is a second deal to combine the health insurer and a pharmacy following that recent aetna cvs dealping to compete with that model in the future. >>> jessica, thank you. >>> new questions about president trump's involvement in the special counsel investigation. >>> in our daily, robots are taking over the world segment, amazon says it knows why alexa has been terrifying users with a creepy laugh. >> now to distract you. here's a cute video of penguins. how one researcher captured this viral hit. >>> you're looking live at the big board. big board. not too >> announcer: today's storm is level 1. that means light rain. so keep an umbrella handy and drive safely. track today's storm any time on the abc 7 news app. download it now. >>> you're never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. here we go. take a look at the showers that are now moving into the high kun trin and the ones in the northwest corner of the state. there's a few sprinkles in the southland also. as far as this afternoon, it will be mainly cloudy. 60s elsewhere. quick look at the forecast for tahoe

t now -- with aetna relative to the consumer staples, look at walmart down 6/10 of 1%.west, down 2%. this comes on the news a whistleblower is saying the company may have misrepresented online sales to look better relative to amazon. scarlet: we will certainly be monitoring that. now looking at a special stock -- off by 35%. dave wilson is here with us. that chart is ugly. it absolutely is. it is just the beginning. they are looking for $.24 a share. that does not get you the decline you see today. a couple of other things. paula bennett is a leaving next month. that, they talked about how they have inventory issues they have not been able to resolve. they say business is not meeting expectations. it is clear this company has issues reflected in how far the stock has fallen. about aly became public year. >> exactly. point, ine to the october. they reduced earnings by almost half. the stock really took a beating. eventsu get the latest and the stock is back where it was close to its lows. inventory, they will have to move this stuff along. >> absolutely. quarterook at fo

cvs, aetna latest in megamerger deals, people trying to wring out costs. a lot going on.tell you at the end of the day, walmart trying to make itself more nimble, better able to go of the customers now. as things change in healthcare. >> dana: as demographics change as the population gets older a report about housing, being out of reach for average americans. what do you know about that? >> this is from adams solutions. they're saying that in 68% of housing markets across the country, people earning average incomes cannot afford a median priced house, house of $220,000 or so. it's out of reach for them. in a's more than half, more than 440 counties, pretty big number. as we delve into this, what we see is that the houses on the coast, obviously, are so expensive. but you're seeing it right here. they're putting so much pressure on prices that people are moving from the blue states to the red states to find housing that's affordable. get this, 73% of markets are less affordable than they were just last year. and we're starting to see people move as a result of that. going

>> well, you know we seen it also with vvs and aetna. this is a move on walmart's side both proactive and defensive. it is defensive what amazon could potentially be doing. it is proactive realizing it needs to create other points of connection with its customers. and certainly in these senior market, having that ability to continue in wellness and health care is something that makes a lot of sense especially with the footprint that walmart has all over this country. so i think if you've been following the space. this is something is that makes a lot of sense and whether or not they can execute on it and actually be that change, melissa, i think is a big question mark. from a business strategy sense, vis-a-vis the landscape it does make a lot of sense. melissa: jack from someone who is a health care consumer, everyone of us alive, exciting to see innovation. one of the difficult models we're seeing come out could be a free market solution what is dysfunction in the health care and health insurance industry. am i being too optimistic? >>

my name is kirk astroth aetna graduate student here at the u.of a cat archaeology southwest and i'm really excited we are able to bring douglas preston to the campus for the book festival.ut he's one of my favorite authors of all time. want to thank the university for sponsoring this. it will last about an hour and we will have time for doug to talk about his book and take questions from an audience. please hold your questions to the end when we open that up. as you can see there are mics here so when you come up to the mics and everyone can hear your question there would be much appreciated. immediately following the session -- grabbing his book at the ua bookstore on the mall. they are available for purchase at that location and you can buy the books here during the festival to support the cost of running the festival. we hope if you are not a sponsor i have been asked to encourage everyone to join us tonight for a free concert. the rock bottom remainders. the authors know how to play in cement so it should be a great show. out of respect for

looking for other options ata of the justice department voided an attempted merger between humana, aetnaand anthem. >>> well, tesla is recalling a 130,000 model-s vehicles for a power steering issue. the company sent an e-mail to customers affected saying that the issue affects cars built before april 2016. that the model-s is the some model affected. they found excessive corrosion in the power steering bolts, mostly in areas with colder climates where road salt is used. it is the largest single recall of cars in the company's history. >>> anyone who uses under armour's my fitness pal is being asked to change your password immediately. the company revealed a data breach impacts 150 million users yesterday. that's one of the biggest hacks ever. we're learning now that social security numbers, credit and debit card information was not accessed. under armour says if you used your my fitness pal password or a similar one anywhere else, you should change that immediately. >> almost everyone i know uses my fitness pal. >> including me right here. >>> if you missed out on the two-day passes for

>> you know, you mentioned jp morgan and amazon and berkshire hathaway and also aetna and cvs late lastr moves in the industry that are signalling change which is exciting so i think there's definitely a lot of people and a lot of board rooms trying to figure out how to evolve because the current system is definitely not sustainable. >> he also said that there is enormous pressure. but i'm not sure if he was talking about from employees or for end consumers for the status quo not to hold. for there to be change we talk about technology and the impact on how customers, patients can take control of their care and that's a big part of what you do how are you seeing these forces come to bear and on doctor on demonld demand that patients want you to take care of. >> we're a employer sponsored health care system by and large. they're the ones paying the bills. we work with hundreds of large employers across you can't trithat employ doctor on demand to provide greater access to care for their populations but also lower their costs and so when you look at a lot of the moves that are happening,

and it is very reminiscent of the cvs purchase of aetna. stuart: wait a minute, say that end again.he medicare advantage market, because humana is very big in the medicare advantage market, very big with seniors, particularly seniors in managed care. stuart: would it be, as i've described it, soup to nuts health care provision all the way to -- >> yes. and i think you're going to see much more of that. we always talk about the insurers, but they're the little guys compared to -- [audio difficulty] stuart: you brought us last week which is obamacare premiums -- [audio difficulty] >> i think you're going to see much more of that. we always talk about the insurers, but they're the little guys compared with these retailers. stuart: i want you to update a story which you brought us last week which is obamacare premiums are going to go up right before the elections in november. tell me again. >> that's right. we've seen the premiums more than double in the first three years, then they doubled -- i mean, then they went up by double digits last year, and we're going to see double-digit incr