Brian Evanko: Hey, Steve, it’s Brian. So, a few things I’d call your attention to in regards to the profitability margins relative to revenue. We had an expansion of our relationship with the Department of Defense that was effective on January 1, and we had some additional spending that we’re kind of working our way into in terms of growing into that. So that certainly weighed down the income growth a bit in the first half of the year. To your point, the rate and pace of investments, particularly around the accelerated growth businesses in Evernorth, both the healthcare services as well as the Accredo specialty pharmacy also impacted the income growth. And then for the back half of the year, we expect accelerated income growth, again, mid-single digits in the third quarter, mid- to high-single digits in the fourth quarter, largely driven by the increased ramp for biosimilars.
And I would note that, that’s not predicated on any meaningful share shift. We have strong visibility to that income emerging in the back half of the year.
Operator: Thank you, Mr. Baxter. Our next question comes from John Ransom with Raymond James. You may ask your question. John Ransom, your line is open. You may ask your question. Seems like he is not responding. We’ll go ahead to Mr. George Hill with Deutsche Bank. You may ask your question. Your line is open.
George Hill: Yeah. Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking the question. I know it’s a small piece of the business, but the other revenue inside of Evernorth grew 35% this quarter, accelerating actually versus the prior quarter. I guess it’s becoming, to some degree, a meaningful portion of the segment. I guess, could you talk about what’s driving that growth? And how should we think about the margin profile that’s attached to that business?
Brian Evanko: Good morning, George. It’s Brian. I’ll start and then Eric can pick up a bit. So yes, the fees and other revenue in Evernorth is a strong driver of growth, granted off of a low base. So, important to keep that in mind as you think about the overall P&L. Multiple areas of growth underneath this line. One I’d call out is we’re seeing increased demand for PBM service-based solutions, meaning more fee-oriented relationships as we have more and more clients looking for those types of mechanisms. We also have contributions from our Evernorth Care businesses reflected here. So, for example, MDLive and eviCore are both contributing to that. And then if you’re looking at pharmacy other revenue, the CuraScript Specialty Distribution business has been a strong grower year-on-year.
You also recall from some of our prior conversations that we’re very focused on driving cross-enterprise leverage between the Cigna Healthcare business and Evernorth. So, as Cigna Healthcare procures more and more services from Evernorth, we have some benefit that comes through the fees and the other revenue lines in Evernorth from that as well. So, Eric, anything you want to add in terms of further color?
Eric Palmer: Brian, thanks. You’ve hit the headlines in terms of the main drivers here financially. Well, just to note, on the fee-based portion of the PBM in particular, this is an area that we’ve continued to accelerate. David made reference in his prepared remarks around our ClearCareRx program. This builds off of a couple of years of experience that we’ve got in providing fee-based fully-aligned mechanisms in terms of providing the pharmacy benefit, and so those fee types of arrangements will come through there. I would say, have you think about the margin profile for that business is very consistent with the other businesses in Express Scripts and the like. And then likewise, the growth in our MDLive and behavioral platforms continue to be an area of real focus for us and continued momentum into that driver as well.
And I would have you think about those margins is also generally in line with the Evernorth segment overall. So, we continue to be excited about the opportunity and the momentum that we’re building in all of the different lines across the Evernorth portfolio, and you’re seeing the growth there come through that line.
George Hill: Thank you.
