i don't have much to say to aetna. >> reporter: in a statement the health care provider says aetna covers nonemergent air ambulance transfers based on medical necessity after considering the specifics of each case. we are working directly with mr. and mrs. pratta to ensure they continue to receive the level of care needed. and, by the way, sara was cleared by doctors to make that trip to texas. her employer now says it will try to fly austin back home. >> that's nice of them. >> yeah. >>> and we've all heard about eating an apple a day. well, how about eating an egg a day to keep the doctor away? a new study finds people who eat one egg a day can significantly reduce their risk of heart disease compared with those who do not eat eggs. the egg eaters in this case had a 26% lower risk of having a stroke. i suppose the egg haters didn't fare quite so well. researchers say the cause for the lower risk needs more study but the conclusion is in sharp contrast to warnings about egg's cholesterol content years ago. >> more study needed. >>> in the meantime, i'll keep eating eggs. >>> two parents

recently united health and aetna announced they'll start sharing some rebates they negotiate. we believe this is a step in the right direction and sharing with patients is an idea that we support not only in the commercial market, but in medicare part d as well and we need to move away from a convoluted system of list prices, net prices and rebates to one that measures values through the eyes of the patient and enables the private sector for new and better ways to pay for medicine. in short, the supply chain is complicated, but we must make sure that the patients benefit from the fruits of the competitive marketplace because until we address the costs that patients pay out of pocket, the work of america's health care system isn't done. we have to get this right and i believe we can. it's now my pleasure to introduce two of our great speakers this morning, ian reed is the ceo of pfizer one of the premier biopharmaceutical companies. ian is a 40-year veteran of pfizer having overseen five of the company's global units. during his storied career he's had a seat at the table with

recently united health and aetna announced they will start sharing and negotiating. we believe this is a step in the right direction and sharing statements with patients is something we support not only in the commercial market but -- as well and we need to move away from a convoluted system of list prices net prices and rebates to one that measures values through the eyes of the patient and enables the private sector to develop new and better ways to pay for medicines. in short, the supply chain is complicated but we must make sure we aligngn incentives to me sure we improve the competitive marketplace because until we address the cost of patients pay out pocket the health care health care system work is not done. we have to get this right and i believe he can. it's now my pleasure to introduce two of our great speakers this morning. ian read is the ceo of pfizer one of the premier biopharmaceutical companies. he has overseen by the company's global business units. during his storied career he has had to see the table negotiating deals with every element of the supp

we have aetna former ceo richard huber. thanks so much for joining us. he first talked about attacking pharmacy benefit managers but those stocks went up. obviously the market doesn't believe they will get a handle on those businesses. what is your take? >> it is always easy to blame the middleman but in our system basically the problem is the base cost. the middleman adds on something, and we can always try to squeeze that. i think that is a laudable goal but really if the price is high, the end price is going to be high. so it doesn't, we don't accomplish much by just beating up on the middleman. it is the base cost. i'm encouraged by some of the parts of president's plan. don't tell my friends at club i'm in favor of some of that, but i think attacking the base cost, that is where it all begins. melissa: when you talk about the base cost, are you talking about the cost they're saying, there is that sticker price and it is not the price that anyone really pays? >> absolutely right. melissa: you negotiate lower, there is rebate, what your insurance comp

aetna higher along with other insurers >>> we know robert downey jr. has super human abilities in the film iron man kwoez but it turns out the concept isn't all that farfetched anymore >> dottie: >> reporter: this is a cool aspect of the story. we are at the robotics conference and one of the coolest segments of robotics is wearables and this is one company that is doing that it's called suit x and the people behind me are wearing these exoskeletons it turns them into iron men of sorts with super human strength, allowing them to double the amount of weight they can carry safely these exoskeletons are being used by dhl, ford, ask chrysler fiat it's one of the ways robots are transforming entire industries boston dynamics spot minirobot captivating the crowd to the this conference, this just one day after the soft bank owned company released video showing the four-legged star running up and down stairs and dodging objects. its two-legged companion, the atlas, taking jaunts around the neighborhood the increasing agility of robots is transforming industrie

slightly more nuanced answer is, i'm concerned if i'm not insured by aetna or cigna that i'll get the best deals for drugs and i'm concerned if i'm a pharmacist, especially a small pharmacist, then i'm not going to get a particularly good formulary and prices when i'm competing against cvs. >> anybody else want to weigh in? do they think that this is going to change sort of the cost for their patients, the benefits for patients? >> i think our concern is always patient access. as there are fewer players in the market, you lose, first of all, from the pharmacist aspect, you lose negotiation power for people to think, oh, you can negotiate your terms with an insurer, and the larger an insurer gets, we found now already they're take it or leave it contracts. so, the negotiation powers always a concern, but patient access. the fact that an insurer can build a network that has, quote, unquote, access, and meanwhile, the patient's pharmacist is not included in the network, and those choices are happening and we're seeing more and more patients unable to go to the pharmacy of their choice. >

and we have some big potential and in and in mergers, so, we have cvs is looking to buy aetna and and then cvs is the biggest in pbm and one of the biggest you will and you insurers, and and insurers, and you and i others. you probably how is this going to change this whole drug supply chain? what what does that hold for the future and what do these mergers mean if they go through? you he is >> simple answer is we don't know. you slightly more nuanced answer is, i'm concerned if i'm not insured by aetna or cigna that i'll get the best deals for drugs and i'm concerned if i'm a a a pharmacist, especially a small pharmacist, then i'm not in the a going to get a particularly good formulary and prices when i'm competing against cvs. >> anybody else want to weigh in? do they think that this is going to change sort of the cost for to to change sort of the cost for their patients, the benefits for patients? >> i think our concern is always patient access. there as there are fewer players is a in the market, you lose, first of all, from the a you andu pharmacists' aspect, you lose negotiation

the company expects to close the $69 billion deal to buy aetna in the second half of the year but on the down day on wall street shares still fell 3% to4. $65 >>> consumers are once again charging more on the credit cards and that helped mastercard report higher than expected sales and profits today. people using their cards outside the country that they're issued in. resulting in a rise of more than 20% in those lucrative cross border fees. mastercard was up 3% today to $185.82. >>> wayfair posted a wideroshan expectedbut revenue did grow nearl retailer tracted more customers to the website. in fac company is gaining market share in the home goods e-commerce . mark investors seemed to like that news, sendinthe shares higher by more than 13% today. >>> and aig reported earnings that missed the estimates. it cited continued struggles with the property casualty insurance business. shares of aig traded initially lower in after hours trading tonight. >>> onedef the largest rtment stores in the macy'scquired a boutique retail shop in new york. but it might not be the store raat macy's is

aetna use as teledoc, united health care as doctor on demand. but while 70% of consumers say they are interested in virtual health care, so far, some 20% have tried it. as virtual doctor's visits are getting more popular start-ups are offering on-demand health care. 98.6 is a text-based app that connects you with primary care physicians the cost is $20 a year for unlimited use for the first year robby cape is cofounder of 98.6. thanks for being here today. we just heard about some of these other things like virtual docs and other things. how is 98.6 different? >> number one is quality it's very important to us to develop an ongoing relationship with our patients. so we want to be there, not only when they get sick, we want to be there for them in wellness. for example, after the first time we see them, we might discover something about them and follow up with them a few months later >> does that mean seeing the same doctor every time, or is it just, you keep records of all of this and whoever's getting back to me may differ >> we keep records in

>> one of the founding members of the coalition is aetna who led an effort launched in 2014 pakistan reducing the instances of the member withing their systems. talking about cost, this is a six-year roughly $60 million investment company is undertaking because they think they can reduce the risk profile by reducing the instances across their enterprise and i think today they've eliminated about 10 billion instant is ambitious you i probably have my ssn ended up in this debate could different systems. to do thisre willing and particularly fortune 500 companies are looking at it as a liability but the cost significance it cannot happen overnight. they are also hindered as a co- venture they are required to leverage almost all the government business also was any beneficiary they have to report to the government for health insurance, so i highlighted this in my opening testimony there's a lot of government requirements out there that state the private industry has to aetna and it will be hard to eliminate it entirely. >> as we keep going forward we look at this program and refer tbook

the real story is the aetna deal. they hope to close that in the second half of this year, which will transform their business. that is the big news. alix: potentially, that are news, or to -- better news, especially if amazon competes against cvs. david: amazon said they will put down a hold a little bit and help cvs a little bit. whatt to get an update on is making headlines from outside the business world. kailey leinz is here. u.s. toiran expects the withdraw from the nuclear deal by may 12. the iranian government has made preparations for what it calls different days ahead. tosident trump has vowed pull the u.s. out of the agreement if it is not changed. robert mueller's team is putting pressure on president trump's lawyers. prosecutors have told the white house of the president does not agree to an interview, they will consider a subpoena to compel him to testify that could lead to a prolonged legal fight. some of the biggest names in american economics have a warning for president trump. they say it could be 19

numbers that on the face of it the estimates but suspending the buybacks during its process to acquire aetna. prescription volume of 8.5% but revenue growth in that unit was up 3.2%, implying there is pricing pressure. gilead is a laggard who missed estimates. standouts on the upside is a marist was bergen source,- americ they have been beat up over concerns of amazon your that amazon. -- amazon. noteovement in the 10-year touching 3% and not quite back up to that level. it has been bouncing around today, now at 2.97%. the other big news within treasuries is all of the tax plans details you were talking about half to be paid for. we are seeing that ad to debt. quarterly funding from the treasury department and it will boost the amount of long-term debt to $73 billion this quarter. that increases the u.s. deficit as a percentage of gdp. deficit as wethat continue to watch the mounting cost of the stimulus. shery: the stimulus costs are growing. coming up, the threat of a subpoena, the prosecutor is working with robert mueller have made clear to the president's legal team that that option is o

we have seen mergers since the first of the year with dbs and aetna and walmart and scripps the pharmacy benefit managers. what is this leading to? we are breaking down the silo in the industry where people can perhaps the not insured that members of the conglomerate can compete. maybe each on will be like a mini national health service in the u.k. and it can be good or bad but where do you think this is leading and do we have to worry about mandates with the affordable care act if the trend continues i think the unexpected development is the resurgence of the development will -- insurance companies the thought is that they would be gone by now they really didn't serve a purpose in the marketplace that was wrong or policy decided not to tingle so now you see the insurance companies have a more lasting presence in the marketplace and you will continue to see that. some of those mergers in the pharmaceutical service with all three levels the now injury. to be sustained growth in healthcare. not result in continued growth and opportunity and second look at big data and how that revolutioniz

let's take a look at aetna. latest results beating the street there but premiums declined and fees rose. aetna shares are down slightly so far for the year, so we're watching those three stocks. the big one, investors are gearing up for apple, the latest results are after the bell today. apple is expected to post sharply higher earnings per share and revenue compared to last year. investors will be looking for a bunch of things, the number of iphones they shipped, financial forecasting and plans for the $163 billion they are sitting on in cash. apple shares touched a record high on march 13th and in the premarket up slightly. that is the big story today is apple. can't wait. >> dagen: we'll talk about that, jerry willis and mike murphy sat down so we'll talk about that coming up. also, steve mnuchin weighing in on concerns over a tightening labor market. what he told maria bartiromo, next. i can do more to lower my a1c. and i can do it with what's already within me. because my body can still make its own insulin

everybody is higher, aetna is higher by two and three quarters. these are the so-called middlemen that are supposedly under attack, cvs up by 4%, walgreens, 1% and, you know, biotech, he talked a lot about bio similars, they seem to be fine too. nobody should be surprised at president trump's ire over this. he has never made it a secret. he's not a fan of the drug companies, he's accused them of ripping off the american public with high cost to prescription drugs, the president indicating it is time to start taking u.s. consumers for fools. >> in some cases medicine that costs a few dollars in a foreign country cost hundreds of dollars in america for the same pill with the same ingredients in the same package, made in the same plant and that is unacceptable. you can look at some of the countries, their medicine is a tinny traction what the medicine costs in the usa. it's unfair and it's ridiculous and it's not going to happen any longer. liz: so what's the answer, more competitive, more generics, companies like mylan, maker of epipen, remember whe

companies have been fleeing, aetna, general electric. individuals have been fleeing the state. the connecticut budget director, even they for the first time in years, their budget will not be on restraint because of revenue flowing in from economic growth. david: deficits are going to surpluses. another state that used to be free-spending, minnesota, minnesota will report a $329 million surplus. >> yeah. david: that is an estimate, looks like what they will come in. it is very simple. the more people work, the more they pay in taxes. the more companies make, the more they pay in taxes. i mean that's why a he going economy cures a lot of ills. >> if you're a democratic state, connecticut, minnesota, why would you not be in favor -- if you're a democrat, you have to ask why are they not in favor of tax cuts? going back to john f. kennedy when they cut taxes, revenue increased -- i have never understood, david, why democrats don't agree to tax cuts. take the money and run? the money flows in if you're in charge of the state, you get to figure out how to spend it. they won't do tha

it's also extending its relationship with aetna so its shares are also higher too. one analyst said that in is a clearing event for lab comp, that they're akuwaiting the announcement from united health. that was kind of overhanging the company. >> this is a petch, not an investment, right? >> right. >> could it lead to that? >> it doesn't look like it at this point. basically it gives quest diagnostics access to more patients. that same analyst said it is clearly a positive with yuneled health. 48 million-plus covered patients. it will have access to all insuranced patients nationally. >> are there other companies that will be interested in acquiring quest dynamics? there have been a lot of mergers, not necessarily primary partners in the past. to -- i yew seen a push posed that question to jonathan palmer because that occurred to me also that with all of this activity, we haven't we seen it with lap corp or quest dynamics. he says it's not viewed by many .c.'s or investors of having a really business model. that's because it relies heavy a-- heavily on government a

higher profits, individual stocks are moving, aetna, aetna has agreed to be purchased by cvs, no change in the stock premarket. merck, it did get some help from sales of cancer drug but, again, dead flat stock right there. pfizer, lower sales of breast cancer drug and arthritis drug. down at 35. apple reports after the closing bell this afternoon, premarket it's up about, what, 68 cents. liz, i want to know because there's going to be a call after the report comes out, i want to know what apple will do with all of that money? >> that's exactly right, on average $50 billion it's been spending on those items, will it increase to 60 billion, what will it say declining market share in both china and india, we are watching for tim cook what he's going to say. lowest expectations on apple right house -- now because they are losing. stuart: $60 billion here. liz: they could buy ireland or finland. ashley: together. liz: it's 300 billion in the capital reallocation program. they boost to 350. stuart: people asked me what does that mean, they have the equivalent of money in their checking accoun

the aetna deal will close in the back half of the year. the stock is up 4.5% right now. the nasdaq up nearly 1% yesterday due in part to apple. it was up almost 1%. apple had better than expected numbers for the quarterly report. if dow is down 64 points yesterday. the german dax index is up better than 1% this morning. we had economic data coming out of europe today. in asia overnight, markets edged lower across the board, fractional moves. a new era for the state department, president trump preparing to formally squar squn mike pompeo later today. he met with his new team yesterday. >> i think i have the record for the longest trip to the first day of work and i am humbled to be here. i tried to prepare myself for this moment but to stand here and look at the most important diplomatic corps in the world ise enormously humbling to me. >> maria: how he's vowing to help the department to get its, quote, swagger back. the last note, gibson is filing for bankruptcy. how they plan to renew their business despite financial troubles. and amazon's new program to get kids readin

. >> one of the founding members of our coalition is aetna. their chief security officer and the team their lead -- led an effort that launched in 2014 focused on reducing the instances of social security number within their system. talking about cost, this is a six year roughly $60 million investment the company is voluntarily undertaking because they think they can reduce their risk profile by reducing the instances of the ssn across their enterprise, and i think today, they have reduced 10 billion instances. not that they have 10 billion beneficiaries, but that shows you if i am one of their customers, i probably had my ssn in about a dozen different locations. you are starting to see fortune 500 companies holding onto ssn or looking at it as a liability, but the cost is significant. it cannot happen overnight. they are also hindered in that as a health insurer, they are required by the government to muchage the ssn for pretty all of their government business as well as any beneficiary who they had to report to the government had health ins

so one of the founding members of our coalition is aetna, who their chief security officer jim roth and the team there led an effort i think launched in 2014, focused on reducing instances of the social security number within their systems. talking about costs, this is a six year, roughly $60 million investment that the company is voluntary undertaking because they think they can reduce the risk profile by reducing instances of the ssn across their enterprise. and i think to date they eliminated about 10 billion instances not that they have 10 billion beneficiaries, but if i was one of them i probably had ssn in the system. companies are starting to do this today, and particularly fortune 500 companies holding onto ssn as a liability. but the cost is significant. can't happen overnight. they are also hindered as health insurancer required by the government to leverage ssn for all of the government business as well as any beneficiary they have to report to the government who has health insurance. so i highlighted this a little in my hoping testimony. a lot of government requirements out

cvs trying to buy aetna, walmart strengthening its ties to humana, on and on. will all this consolidation drive down costs as well >> i hope so i think what you are seeing is everyone is working hard on this problem and it's not unusual, as we've seen in other industries, that you would start to see some consolidation. clearly, while we've made great progress in this country, we still have an unacceptable number of americans who do not have access to the front door of the american health care system and we have a lot of americans who have access to the front door but, quite frankly, can't afford to get the care in some cases. so, we still have major issues to work on in this industry and kaiser permanente certainly is doing all we can to drive up quality, continuing to drive up quality, access and more access and continue to make health care affordable. >> it's certainly a complex issue. we appreciate you coming on and giving us your thoughts on this day with this $200 million investment kaiser permanente chairman and krechlt o bernard tyson, thank you. >> than

that will have important implications for other mergers aetna among them so it's not just about, as we said many times, that one deal it's really important. the journal today writes an editorial. i don't know if you saw it just saying there's more or less the government didn't come close to proving its case. that is for the judge to decide. >> yeah. you guys, you got executives and you got government people flying over to china trying to make it so there's some sort of policy that doesn't continue to kill the industrials. maybe they don't mind. you have the courts holding up a lot of deals we haven't spoken today, david, about the various percentage we're starting here. handicapping sprint and t-mobile. >> t-mobile reported numbers, as well we have those to deal with, jim. but and the stock is up this morning. remember in terms of the ratio that will help sprint. that's up, also. trading more or less in line in terms of the spread. i don't know, guys we'll see. you know, they're going to be spending a lot of time in washington trying to educate people whether they be members of congres

monsanto is an arbitrage situation over the next few months where you can get a 5% to 10% type of return aetna health is a situation that offers even more i would go convertible equity in terms of these situations to earn a higher rate of return with a little more risk, obviously. >> this is why you like being called unconstrained, right? >> that's correct. >> bill gross, thanks again. >> thank you >>> still ahead, taking the vodka out of vodka why? one liquor company doing just that, well, sort of. we will tell you who and why next and sticking with booze, this stock taking a tumble on earnings what's on tap? that's your hint for this company going forward. anything worth pursuing hard work and a plan. at baird, we approach your wealth management strategy the same way to create a financial plan built to last from generation to generation. we'll listen. we'll talk. we'll plan. baird. the kayak explore tool shows you the places you can fly on your budget. so you can be confident you're getting the most bang for your buck. alo-ha. kayak. search one and done. becareally want to be there, but you

europe's biggest discount airline has aetna it come rose 10% in the year to end march. they will fall back to a range -- in the current 12 months. that would represent a decline of as much as 14%. the russian billionaire owner of chelsea football club is unable to travel to the u.k. at the moment because of delays renewing his visa. according to people familiar with the situation, he was not and hasey stadium not been denied a visa, but renewal is taking longer than usual. britain's home office declined two,. the largest proxy advisory firm is recommending advisers reject tesla board members. those are jobs now held by elon musk, the public face of tesla. directors -- that is your bloomberg business flash. francine: thank you so much. brexit supporters fear of a trail over a new customs plan to trust theresa may to deliver on her promises according to the foreign secretary. he's of the prime minister needed time to pursue her plan. allowing britain to control immigration and strike free trade deals across the world. meanwhile, the brexit affect is being felt among the h

look at cbs-aetna, right? situation.f it is a set up foreclosure, whether is his customer corp. -- foreclosure. we would hope that the judge would do this balancing between economics and law and institutional analysis and come to some reasoned conclusion. thinkd just add that i efficiencies claims and vertical mergers are already crumbling. we see very little evidence in the past of vertical economies being delivered and passed on to consumers. these are big, complex vertically integrated corporations. managers have to deliver on efficiencies claims. we have evidence that shows managers don't actually deliver on these claimed deficiencies. that is bubbling to the surface. the product with remedies are well known and judge lyons -- , expressed concern about the enforceability of those types of remedies. it could be a great outcome, but i don't know how much value it will have four other cases. >> how did we get to the point that in order to block the merger, i have to prove the inunt of what charged places? the

is trying to acquire aetna and the list goes on. t-mobile signed an agreement to buy sprint which would combine two of four major cellphone carriers in the united states. again, i note that number four, the number on the monopoly board. this would go even to less. that would go down to three. t-mobile has been playing a major disrupting role in a good way -- i mean disrupting is good in terms of bringing prices down. and you have all seen the ads with what they are offering. this would merge two of those four companies and we would be down to three. more than three-quarters of american adults now own smart phones, including many who depend on these devices for their primary connection to the internet and many don't have local phone service and now we're bringing their choices down from major carriers to three if this deal were to go through. last october in anticipation of this transaction, i sent letters with a number of my colleagues raising antitrust concerns and urging the justice department and federal communications commission