The U.S. Justice Department has approved the proposed $67 billion merger between health insurer Cigna Corp. and pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, the companies announced Monday. Cigna and Express Scripts still must secure certain state regulatory approvals to complete the deal, which was first announced in March, but the nod from the federal antitrust enforcers takes care of the biggest hurdle. The companies expect to close the deal by year-end. But many observers, including hospital groups, employers and other health plans, have criticized the deal and that of CVS Health and insurer Aetna's, which has not yet been cleared by the Justice Department, as profit-driven schemes unlikely to benefit consumers. (Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare)