You can join our conversation. Right after the. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer u.s. Ambassador to the u.n. Nikki Haley is leaving the trumpet ministration at the end of this year she surprised many worth or decision today but as N.P.R.'s Michele Kelemen explains President Trump is holding out the possibility she may return as she sat next to the president in the Oval Office Nikki Haley was playing down her political ambitions no I'm not running for turning 20 and I can tell you she will be doing is campaigning for this one so I look forward to supporting the president in the next election so thank you she was a few says and so was Trump who calls Haley a quote very special person adding that she told him 6 months ago she wants to take some time off he says he will name a successor in the next few weeks before being tapped by Trump to serve at the u.n. Haley was governor of South Carolina Michele Kelemen n.p.r. News the State Department President Trump says the White House is in direct communication with Florida's governor as Hurricane Michael makes its way toward the Gulf Coast as N.P.R.'s ones are Johnston reports the Category 3 storm is on track to make landfall tomorrow as a major hurricane charm says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is prepared to step in and assist the local authorities once the storm hits we're already. Spoke with Governor Scott spoke to everybody that you have to speak to and I think that hopefully we'll get lucky but maybe that won't happen but we're prepared homes and businesses are boarding up along Florida's Big Bend and Panhandle Forecasters say Michael is expected to produce dangerous storm surge damaging winds and heavy rain hurricane warnings have been issued along the state's Gulf Coast Governor Rick Scott has declared states of emergency for more than half of the counties in Florida Winsor Johnston n.p.r. News u.n. Human rights expert admits the case of a missing Saudi journalist has created difficulty for the Turkish government who runs David Kay says that's because Jamal quit. Shogi was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Turkey putting the country in the position of having to maintain diplomatic relations and conduct a high profile investigation it was State Department spokeswoman Heather now with him on those calling on Riyadh to provide answers the United States is certainly concerned about his whereabouts a senior officials at the State Department have spoken with Saudi officials through diplomatic channels about the matter we call on the governments of Saudi Arabia to conduct a thorough Trans Ams transparent investigation some Turkish sources have said they believe could be a critic of Saudi policy was killed while inside the mission Saudi Arabia's called those allegations baseless The only appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh seem to waste little time jumping into his new job today Kavanagh asking questions in the 1st arguments of the day occasionally along with increased prison sentences for repeat offenders he post some questions after most of the other justices that way Dan makes close on Wall Street the Dow was down 56 points today the Nasdaq rose 2 points the s. And p. 500 closed down 4 points this is n.p.r. . Pakistan's currency the rupee plunged about 7 percent today after the country's government announced it intends to seek emergency bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund a Pakistani delegation is expected to meet with i.m.f. Officials in Indonesia later this week Pakistan is already seeking loans from China which is invested heavily in that country's transport and energy sectors the rock n Roll Hall of Fame is announcing its nominees for the class of 2019 for member station w k s you cover your body as more. Def Leppard has been eligible for the Rock Hall for over a decade but is making its 1st appearance on this year's ballot acts are released their 1st record at least 25 years ago are eligible and several other groups are bowing for the 1st time as well Divo singer songwriter John Prine Roxy Music Stevie Nicks and Todd Rundgren returning to the ballot or acts ranging from Janet Jackson to m c 5 to the zombies who have been eligible since 1989 in addition to more than 1000 music industry professionals fans can also vote for their favorite acts online through December 9th the 21000 Rock Hall induction ceremony will be held in New York City in March for n.p.r. News I'm in Cleveland and a benefit for Starbucks 180000 employees subsidized backup care for children and adults company announcing employees a Jew s. Locations will get up to 10 backup care days each year to use when their regular care is unavailable Starbucks is partnering with a company called Care dot com which connects people to caregivers the company will also offer employees free senior care planning through Care dot com I'm Jack Speer n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include Terra data working to transform how businesses work through the power of data using pervasive data and Teligent Tera data leverage is all relevant data to deliver answers to complex business issues Tara Data dot com. This is where we live I'm listing all potential 1000 families in Connecticut experience homelessness each year children in those families could be a child and your son or daughter's class should educators talk with students about homelessness Coming up we'll hear from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness the nonprofit has created lesson plans for teachers to help them talk about it with students the coalition's Matalan Ravitch will join us later this hour 1st a proposal to merge c.b.s. And now or for c.b.s. To acquire at night a $69000000000.00 deal faces its 1st hurdle after a public hearing the state insurance department now has 30 days to decide whether to approve the deal and the federal government must also give its approval but is this a good deal for consumers do you think the merger will hinder competition and limit your savings or will a c.b.s. In a partnership lead to innovative less expensive strategies to deliver health care we want to hear from you join the conversation 275-7266 you can e-mail us where we live at w npr dot org As always find us on Facebook and Twitter where we live on a Welcome back to the show Harriet Jones she's business reporter for Connecticut Public Radio Harriet thanks for coming in you're welcome at now has deep roots in the state of Connecticut I read. Governor Malloy quote is they've been here since 1853 got it right when they were founded in Hartford an 853 you know pretty much synonymous with the insurance industry here you know really very iconic corporate citizen of Hartford but you know of late has been somewhat in doubt we saw them try to do another huge merger a couple of years ago with Humana. As part of this kind of wave of consolidation in the health care industry that got blocked by the Department of Justice by federal antitrust regulators and after that there was some uncertainty as part of the Humana merger. You know kind of hinted they might move their headquarters out of Hartford after the failed c.e.o. Mark personally announced plans that he was going to move the headquarters to New York City they were going to build themselves a fancy new office block just you know right next to Chelsea Market in lower Manhattan you know next to Google and You Tube and all the rest of it but those plans again changed the c.b.s. Deal came on the scene remind us that Mark brutal Ynys love for Hartford has waned over the last year so explain again why he wanted to move the headquarters to New York City so he said you know what he said is he wants to kind of re-imagine the company you know as a legacy insurance company but more to do with health care more broadly and to do with the data analytics of health care too so he wanted to think of it more you know to have the technology component of the company be more prominent and so he felt that Manhattan was you know a better place to do that and I think you'll see with personally more fundamental and then Hartford and so with the news that c.v.s. Was interested in acquiring. Those concerns from heart for officials like the mayor and others the governor that they would move the headquarters that went away because c.v.s. Said that they didn't have any intention of wanting to see the headquarters out of state but in terms of this potential deal coming up we're going to hear about some of the concerns from consumer advocates and others but what exactly needs to happen step by step in terms of approval for the c.v.s. An. Acquisition So any big public company merger you know requires trust regulators to sign off on it but if you're in a very heavily regulated industry like the insurance industry like health care there's not many more steps because not only does the d.o.j. Itself the federal level have to sign off every state where you sell plans or you have operations also has to have its own hearing and the insurance department in that state might want to impose its. And conditions none of the states actually have you know they can't stop the deal but they can recommend to the d.o.j. That you know in fact California has in this case you know. Raised its very loud voice to the Department of Justice and said that it doesn't believe that this merger should go ahead whereas we've seen states like Connecticut kind of haven't ruled yet but it also has imposed conditions on the company now has an agreement with c.v.s. That it will keep as headquarters in Hartford for 10 years it will keep its workforce approximately the level it is now which is about $5300.00 it will it's going to keep the workforce level for 4 years so regulators have those kinds of powers to impose conditions so that almost sweeten the deal for the state of Connecticut to try if you guys want to get this this merger of this deal in place what's in it for us but there have been opinions out there that wide just 10 years why not commit to Connecticut in the long term right yeah of course I think you're right there was an editorial in Hartford Current saying you know why can't we just keep your forever you never going to get that kind of commitment from a company because they have no idea you know what business conditions are going to be in the future what the shape of the company is going to be in the future. So you know that it's not realistic to expect to get in this type of negotiation instead with me is Harriet Jones business reporter for Connecticut Public Radio as we talk about this pending deal with c.b.s. Looking to acquire at now which is one of the 3rd I think it's the 3rd largest insurer in the nation coming to Britain learn more about c.v.s. As a pharmacy benefit manager and some of the concerns with this idea of a p.b.m. As they're known acquiring insurance company but in terms of when we look at the status quo and keeping at night here in the state this deal isn't likely to get approval from the federal government I believe there was a previous a deal between Cigna and expressed grips which is a similar kind of relationship that got approval yes to these deals are they're fairly new so this is a deal essentially between a health insurer and what's called a p.b.m. a Pharmacy benefits manager which is the the bit of c.v.s. That's kind of interest interesting in this deal what one of those exists already that's Optima and United Health Care another one just did get its federal approval it's not this is Cigna and Express Scripts Cigna of course of Bloomfield based in sure it has this d.o.j. Approval it doesn't have all the state sign offs yet so it's not quite over the finish line but it's very very close it's going to get there so the tea leaves are kind of good for this deal it's slightly less straightforward than Cigna Express Scripts because they do have some overlap in their Medicare d. Medicare part d. Provision and c.v.s. Too so I think we will see the d.o.j. Requiring some defense to churches will have to sell off parts of the company but I think at this stage you know industry watchers would be surprised if that you know to block this another development too for for at Nancy vs to see their this deal go through at no agreed to sell off their Medicare part d. So this covers a prescription plan that covers 2000000 people because c.v.s. Also has a huge. Share that Medicare program and so again this would maybe alleviate some concerns from federal regulators about antitrust that's what they're trying to do there to you know because I think that people with thought that they would have had much too large of a slice of the market they would have dominated the market for too much are they not being asked to sell off or you know they don't volunteer to sell off that part of their business so that yeah it's kind of a it's a signal to regulators that yes we're willing to work with you you know we're going to address your own to competitive concerns can we talk about the larger trends that we're seeing here because you mentioned. Other companies were trying to merge with insurance companies previously that was. Rejected by the federal government but in terms of when we think about our health care system and the rising cost of prescription drugs we just recently talked about how hospitals are working to acquire more physician practices this move to consolidate and have partnerships is it really a good deal for patients like you and I if we need health care down the road I think you know that I mean that's the huge question right that's that's what I know I think we heard 2 economists give evidence before the Connecticut insurance departments just know last few days who said they really don't know they couldn't tell us you know it's going to have this effect or it's going to have that effect it's going to raise prices or it's going lower prices they don't know and I think this is the problem with a lot of what's going on in health care right now you know we saw the Affordable Care Act you know try to time kind of grapple with this monster although many people you know there's been criticism of the Affordable Care Act that it didn't really address the cost curve it didn't look to bring down costs none of the Republican plans that have been brought up you know once the Republicans took control of the White House and Congress none of their plans have really addressed cost either so in some senses I think what's happening here is that we're seeing the marketplace itself trying to grapple with this question of how do we order. Health care in this country and how do we address thought you know the rising cost curve Earlier we talked about this commitment from c.b.s. And and now that the deal goes through they're going to stick with Connecticut for another 10 years that's also probably good for the narrative that policymakers are costly combating which is this idea that you have big companies wanting to leave the state and I'm curious as a business reporter do we have companies of this stature interested in coming to Connecticut it's a complicated picture you know I think we said we tend to see the headlines you know g.e. Leaves no wants to leave and we think you know there's a mass flight of Connecticut it's I mean the pictures a lot more complicated than you know the big names tend to capture the headlines but if you think about other big companies Stanley is committed to being here U.T.C.'s committed to being here we've seen you know I think the state would point to things like Infosys coming into Hartford 7 Stars club which is now called something else is called Idea nomics the big Chinese company that's coming to West Hartford but you know even below that kind of big corporate level there's a whole ecosystem of companies that we really have to think about we have to think about how are we. Nurturing store shops how we persuade people start businesses here and what are we doing for our growth companies those kind of in the middle who maybe you know they maybe have a 100 employees or so they're not a huge company but they're starting to grow they're selling to you know get their operations the stablished here. The business cycle in the business ecosystem is very complicated and I think if you just judge by the headlines you're not getting full picture this is where we live I'm listening up of financial Harriet Jones is here business reporter for Connecticut Public Radio and we want to hear from you 2 are you insured by do you shop at c.v.s. What advantages or disadvantages do you see in this proposed merger between both companies and why are pharmacists doctors and others speaking out against such a plan the N.P.R.'s Harriet Jones going to stay with us as we explore those questions and coming up we're going to hear from Connecticut's health care advocate too you can join the conversation 860-275-7266 extension 1 that's on Facebook and Twitter where with their. 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Hi there I'm Rachel Martin one of the host of N.P.R.'s Morning Edition I feel like a show has worked when we come off the air and I'm getting feedback on social media I'm getting feedback from people who say it feels like you are in my kitchen that you are a trusted friend that you are an ally in my effort to decipher what's true and what's not true listen to Morning Edition every day. Join us from $5.00 to $9.00 comes from. Connecticut. Where we've previously recorded. This is where we live I'm losing all potential the American system of delivering health care has long been seen as broken efforts to dismantle the federal formal Care Act have been helped as insurers leave state health exchanges now these insurance companies are looking for growth and one way is through mergers and acquisitions but is that the best kind of deal for consumers those questions have been raised in Connecticut as pharmacy giant c.v.s. Attempts to acquire hard for bass at now the 3rd biggest insurer in the nation for more on this proposal in studio with me is Harriet Jones business reporter for Connecticut Public Radio and joining us now is Ted do a little health care advocate for the state of Connecticut Ted welcome back thanks so much for having me listen I understand there was a public hearing a recently looking at this a this c.v.s. Wanting to acquire. Explained of the concern before we get to what we heard at that hearing when we think about types of mergers there is the horizontal mergers and then what we're hearing now as a vertical integration which is what would explain this particular deal between c.v.s. And Aetna he describe the difference in between both so you're absolutely right the merger of 2 insurance companies is one thing this is essentially as you described a pharmacy benefit. Middleman. Buying an insurance company so it's 2 different types of businesses that makes it somewhat easier to. Acquire perhaps some of the regulatory approvals needed but the impact on consumers is still very important you mentioned I mentioned pharmacy benefit managers when we think about that is the middleman explain how c.v.s. How they do business and what are some of the concerns wit