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White House To Request $2 Billion To Handle Border Influx of Children Nogales Border Influx of children illegally crossing U.S. border is called a humanitarian crisis Federal officials scramble to respond to unexpected surge of minors immigrating alone into U.S. A rush of young children crossing alone and illegally into the United States from Texas is so large and unexpected that senior officials with the Obama administration said Monday the White House is asking Congress for about $2 billion to grapple with what is being called a humanitarian crisis. Molly Hennessy-Fiske Immigration agents are so overwhelmed that some children are...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2011 – A dispute between Walgreens and a TRICARE contractor will not stop beneficiaries from getting their prescriptions filled, despite a Walgreen’s ad campaign to the contrary, a TRICARE official said today. Don’t let that advertising, letter and Internet outreach campaign scare you, Navy Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity, said. Even if contract renewal negotiations fall through and Walgreens drops out of TRICARE’s retail pharmacy network on Jan. 1, beneficiaries still will have plenty of other options for getting their prescriptions filled. Hunter called the dispute between Walgreens and Express Scripts,...

Wounded by the CalPERS bribery scandal and other problems, a New Jersey pharmaceutical-benefits company is being sold. Medco Health Solutions Inc., one of the giants of the drug-benefit industry, on Thursday agreed to a $29.1 billion takeover by rival Express Scripts Inc. Such a deal would have been unthinkable a few months ago, when Medco was flying high. But the New Jersey company ran into a series of problems that began with its entanglement in the CalPERS bribery case. "This year has been a head-spinner for this (Medco) management team, starting out with the CalPERS issues," said investment analyst Arthur...

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens said Tuesday that after several months of negotiations it has failed to reach a contract agreement with pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, and as a result the drug chain will drop the Express Scripts network as of Dec. 31, 2011. At issue in the negotiations were clear terms of the agreement and unacceptable reimbursement rates that Walgreens said was below the industry average cost especially for Department of Defense Tricare program beneficiaries that Express Scripts manages.

harmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts Inc. said some of its clients have received anonymous letters threatening to expose the personal information of patients. Express Scripts said it believes the threats, which were sent to sponsors who offer its prescription-drug plans rather than directly to patients, are related to an extortion attempt it disclosed last week. The letters include personal details about patients, such as names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, Express Scripts spokesman Steve Littlejohn said. They are similar to an extortion letter Express Scripts received in early October threatening to expose personal data about "millions" of patients covered...