Another April snowstorm here in New Hampshire…weather is getting weirder by the week.
Not to worry – we are keeping the just-arrived birds well fed!
Jobs…
WOW. This just in from BLS…
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 303,000 in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, government, and construction.
March's growth was significantly higher than the average monthly gain of 231,000 over the prior 12 months.
Payroll company ADP predicted booming private sector job growth with an estimated 184,000 new jobs created last month – a big jump over the forecasted growth of 148,000 jobs.
Construction, financial services, and manufacturing sectors saw significant job growth.
Women’s NCAA tournament
Is breaking every record in sight…ticket prices for the semis are more than twice that for the men’s, viewership is off the charts, and everyone with a pulse knows who Caitlin Clark is.
Gotta love the increasing exposure for women’s sports – this will have incalculable impact on girls for generations to come.
Medicare – is NOT about to go bankrupt.
It is highly likely Medicare funding will be more than sufficient to its pay bills for decades to come. Merril Goozner provides a summary of funding’s vagaries, concluding government policy changes and economic ups and downs bounce around, but nonetheless the Trust Fund survives.
Junk fees..
Cost Americans billions as big finance companies hoover dollars out of our pockets.
Good news – efforts to drastically reduce credit card payment late fees got a big boost when a financial industry challenge to those limits was moved to a court much more likely to protect consumers.
Medicare drug prices
About 60 million folks are covered by Medicare – including your author.
Government action is helping reduce drug costs…the cost of insulin for diabetics on Medicare is limited to $35 per month, a huge drop…
From PBS…
The three major manufacturers we’re talking about, Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly, who cap their co-pays at $35, make up more than 90 percent of the insulin market. And the Medicare provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act mean that now about 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries stand to benefit from that $35 monthly co-pay cap on their insulin. [emphasis added]
But wait…there’s more!
- prescription costs of certain drugs for Medicare recipients is going to be capped at $3,300 annually.
- In September the new list prices of 10 major drugs are going to be made public. That was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act’s provision allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. Those prices go into effect in 2026
- The annual cap on prescription costs will drop to $2,000.
The net – Medicare recipients will save big bucks.
