Health plans expect to offer generic drugs by 2022

• Eighteen BCBS companies will provide $55 million to help create a partnership to offer generic drug alternatives.
• The hospital-insurer partnership aims to save consumers “hundreds of millions” of dollars by supplying more generic drug options.
• The new group would be a subsidiary of Civica, a company started in 2018 by national philanthropies and leading health systems, and would seek to add to the 18 generic medications Civica has produced.

A group of health plans joined a hospital-led drugmaking initiative with the goal of offering its own generic drugs by 2022.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and 18 Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) health plans formed a $55 million...