Express Scripts (Cigna / Evernorth)
Express Scripts (Cigna / Evernorth) — Pharmacy benefit manager — TRICARE’s PBM; NOT the VA’s · express-scripts.com.
What it sells
Express Scripts is NOT the VA’s pharmacy benefit manager, and this page says so plainly: the VA dispenses in-house through VA pharmacies and its Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) system. Express Scripts’ large federal role is the Defense Department’s TRICARE pharmacy benefit, held since 2009 — a military benefit, not a VA one — which is why it belongs in the census: families meet this company at the pharmacy counter and are told it is ’the system.’ It is a system — just not the VA’s.
The contract and the money
TRICARE pharmacy contract TPharm5 (HT9402-21-C-0007), 8-year award (2021), service from 2023. No VA pharmacy contract exists to cite — none was found, and none is claimed.
- Up to $4.3 billion (TRICARE pharmacy) — Management-contract value at award — not drug spend, and not VA money. (Military.com, Jul 1, 2024)
On the record
What the government’s own watchdogs and prosecutors have published about this company, newest first. The summaries are ours; the findings are theirs.
- FTC administrative complaint against Caremark, OptumRx and Express Scripts over insulin rebate schemes (2024-09) — The FTC alleged the three largest PBMs used rebate-driven formularies that inflated insulin list prices; Express Scripts settled first, in February 2026, per the cited analysis.
- OPM OIG audit: Express Scripts overcharged the APWU Health Plan / FEHBP by nearly $44.9 million (2016–2021) (2024-04-19) — The OPM Inspector General found Express Scripts did not pass through required discounts, rebates and fees — including $14.4M in retail pass-through pricing and $15.8M withheld by a sister company. A separate federal-employee contract, not TRICARE or VA.
If this company is in your chain
- Tell Your Story — this site publishes documented family records. If this company is in your veteran’s chain, your documents belong on the record next to ours.
- VA OIG Hotline: 800-488-8244 — report suspected wrongdoing, inadequate patient care, or mismanagement straight to the Inspector General.
Middlemen data checked 2026-10-25 against the sources cited on this page. If a figure or a fact here is wrong, tell us — corrections are the point of this site.