Health insurer Cigna is buying the nation’s biggest pharmacy benefit manager, Express Scripts, the latest in a string of proposed tie-ups as health care’s bill payers attempt to get a grip on rising costs.

The practice of charging a copay that is higher than the full cost of a drug is called a “clawback” because the middlemen that handle drug claims for insurance companies essentially “claw back” the extra dollars from the pharmacy.

The House rejected legislation Tuesday easing how experimental drugs are provided to people with terminal illnesses, as Democrats calling the bill risky and misleading overcame support from President Donald Trump and emotional arguments by Republican lawmakers and ailing constituents.

In April, the government will start sending out new Medicare cards, launching a massive, yearlong effort to alter how 59 million people enrolled in the federal health insurance program are identified.

Antonio Villaraigosa thinks he has a solid weapon to hammer Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom with as they run for governor. And he probably does.

Across the country, people who buy health insurance on exchanges could see their premiums rise between 12 and 32 percent in 2019, according to an analysis released Thursday by Covered California, the state exchange that sells insurance to 1.2 million residents who don’t receive health coverage through their employers.