A former Virginia Beach investment advisor was sentenced today to 35 years in prison, following last week’s sentencing of his Williamsburg-based attorney to 10 years in prison, for their roles in a nationwide investment fraud scheme that resulted in over $25 million in losses.
Wire Reports
Democrats Seek Tax Hikes To Fully Cover Cost Of Spending Plan
Biden is prodding Democrats to fully cover the cost of the legislation – by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, negotiating the price of prescription drugs and dialing up other sources of federal revenue.
Biden Doubling Down On Tax-The-Rich Budget Strategy
President Biden is leaning into his push to increase taxes on the rich as he seeks to unify Democrats in the House and Senate behind a $3.5 trillion bill that would expand federal efforts to fight climate change, reduce the cost of child care, expand educational access, reduce poverty, and more.
Attorney: Murdaugh Asked Man To Shoot Him For $10M In Life Insurance
The goal of the suicide attempt was to allow Murdaugh’s sole surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, to collect an approximately $10 million life insurance policy on the older Murdaugh’s life, his attorney said.
More Americans Looking To Retire Early, Fed Survey Finds
According to a new survey from the New York Federal Reserve, 50.1% of respondents expect to keep working past the age of 62. That’s an almost 2% decline from the year before.
As Pandemic Saving Settles, Inflation Could Sap Surplus
In April 2020, as Americans were receiving their first relief checks and many businesses shuttered their doors to the public, the saving rate hit an all-time high of 33.7%. It peaked again in March 2021, as the latest round of relief payments were received. As of June, it was 9.4%.
Former NFL Players Plead Guilty To Nationwide Health Care Fraud Scheme
Three former National Football League players have pleaded guilty for their roles in a nationwide scheme to defraud a health care benefit program for retired NFL players.
At the height of her power, Elizabeth Holmes wasn’t exactly a girlboss. The founder and former CEO of blood-testing startup Theranos, whose fraud trial begins this week, didn’t place a ton of public emphasis on feminism or building women-centric spaces.
For the average benefit recipient, currently receiving $1,543, that could amount to $94 per month. It’s a few years too late for a serious increase, but certainly better than the 1.3% bump we saw for 2021 and the 1.6% the year before.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman has appointed a receiver to take over financial decision-making for the condominium association.
The CDC said the delta variant, a version of the coronavirus first identified in India, was first detected in the U.S. in January. It’s now spreading in more than 90 countries.
For Some Americans, Pandemic Prompted Early Retirement
An estimated 3 million people nationwide have left their jobs earlier than expected since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rising Prices Likely To Lead To Higher Social Security COLA
For those who rely heavily on Social Security benefits to pay their bills, the recent uptick in prices in what seems just about everything are cause for concern.
Principal Will Stop Selling US Retail Fixed Annuities
Principal Financial Group will stop selling U.S. retail fixed annuities and consumer life insurance products and pursue sales of blocks of those assets already in force, Bloomberg reported Monday afternoon. The company will continue selling variable annuities.
Supreme Court Rules 7-2 To Keep Obamacare Intact
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in a 7-2 ruling handed down today, knocking down the law’s latest Republican challenge and preserving the ACA and the ability for millions of people with preexisting conditions.
UnitedHealthcare Delays New ER Visit Policy Based On Feedback
UnitedHealthcare has decided to delay the implementation of a new policy that would reduce coverage, or stop payment, for patients’ non-emergency visits to an emergency room.
Inflation Is Surging — The Price Of A Toyota Pickup Helps Explain Why
The Labor Department is set to release on Thursday its latest measurement for inflation during the 12-month period ending in May. April’s reading showed prices climbing by concerning 4.2%.
Is The Economy Recovering Too Quickly?
According to the U.S. Pandemic Misery index developed by the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, 80 percent of Americans experience a coronavirus-related hardship over the course of the pandemic.
Prosecutors objected to the motion saying Robert Feldman doesn’t need to work because he’s living off his dead wife’s life insurance policy that was worth $751,000.
The 59-year-old already paid a visit to the lottery headquarters and is choosing to receive his winnings as a one-time lump sum payment of about $634,517 rather than annuity payments for the full amount.
Pumpkin Pet Insurance is betting big on earned media to increase website traffic and sales after seeing initial success with its brand launch last year.
Through Aug. 15, more than 35,000 uninsured Kentuckians with incomes greater than 400 percent of the federal poverty level can sign up for a recently launched health insurance marketplace subsidy.
The US Tax Code Can Make Things Harder For Black Americans
But it is White Americans who disproportionately benefit from the tax breaks for those things, Emory University tax law professor Dorothy Brown told lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee last week. That’s why she believes the US tax code helps to perpetuate the racial wealth gap.
More Than 8 In 10 Americans Say Pandemic Hurt Their Retirement Plans
One-third of Americans estimate it will take two to three years to get their retirement plans back on track, due to such factors as job loss or retirement withdrawals, according to Fidelity Investments’ 2021 State of Retirement Planning Study.
AOC Says Biden’s $2T Infrastructure Plan Falls Short By About $8T
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that President Joe Biden’s more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan doesn’t go far enough and isn’t fast enough. The New York Democrat also took issue with the amount of spending, arguing that an ideal plan would cost about $10 trillion.
One of the world’s largest container ships is stuck in the Suez Canal, and the ship’s owner and insurers face…
Caesars Entertainment sued a group of insurance carriers, accusing them of declining to cover more than $2 billion in estimated…
Colorado Opens The Door To Public Option
Colorado Democrats introduced a bill in the state legislature that opens the door to a statewide health insurance public option if insurance carriers don’t reduce health care premium costs by 20% over the individual and small-group markets.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are hustling to pass the American Rescue Plan with few changes, including $1,400 direct checks to unaffluent Americans, along with other expansions of aid.
President Joe Biden is expected to take executive action as early as Thursday to reopen the Affordable Care Act marketplaces as well as to lower the barriers to enroll in Medicaid.
Janet Yellen is one step closer to becoming Treasury secretary, with the Senate Finance Committee’s unanimously approving her nomination on Friday.
The nation’s largest financial firms as well as a major health insurance system are halting political donations after an attempt to disrupt the certification of the election resulted in a riot that killed five people.
Genworth and Oceanwide have not extended the current Dec. 31, 2020, “end date” under the merger agreement, Genworth said in a news release on its website. The deadline to complete the merger already has been extended 16 times. Such a merger was expected to infuse Genworth with $1.5 billion in capital.
First American Financial Corporation, a leading global provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions,…
Congress passed a bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill after intense negotiations over its final details. $600 direct payment checks for every adult and child earning up to $75,000. Individuals earning between $75,000 and $99,000 would get smaller checks, and the benefit cuts out entirely for individuals earning over $99,000.
Spending Package Addresses ‘Surprise’ Medical Billing
The legislation will protect patients from being billed in situations such as going to the emergency room and getting care from a physician who is out of network or not covered by the patient’s insurance plan. Consumers have received bills for thousands of dollars when they receive emergency care in an out-of-network facility.
Report: Biden Drops Clues On Treasury, Fed Appointees
President-elect Joe Biden’s first Cabinet picks are coming Tuesday and several names and clues are being leaked. But one popular candidate to lead the Treasury Department might be staying at the Federal Reserve, according to a tweet Monday afternoon.
Penalty Or Tax? ACA Fate Rests On Supreme Court’s Distinction
Some possible outcomes as the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act goes before the Supreme Court once again.
A Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll found nine in 10 Democrats (89%) and two-thirds of independents (66%) also said they do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn the Affordable Care Act while three-fourths of Republicans (76%) said they would like to see the entire law overturned.
Advisors are spending less time meeting with clients face to face, but advisors also are helping clients with COVID-19 concerns,…
Consumers postponed nonessential health procedures during the initial COVID-19 outbreak, and that led to unusually high second-quarter earnings for publicly…
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Obamacare Case Until After Election
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a Trump administration-backed lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act one week after Election Day. The case against the ACA is led by Texas and a group of Republican-led states. California and a group of Democratic-led states are defending the law.
Only one in five of the 143 largest statewide public retirement systems in the U.S. are resilient, a new analysis published by the bipartisan nonprofit Equable Institute shows. And five states California, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas account for more than 50 percent of unfunded liabilities.
Only A Can-Do Attitude Will Beat Covid-19: Column
It seems like we’ve been living with the coronavirus pandemic in a slow-motion time warp. But it’s time we snap out of it and beat this plague with the can-do attitude that has characterized Americans’ character when faced with other seemingly insurmountable crises.
Florida Democrats Blast Trump Payroll Tax Pledge
A Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters released last month showed Biden leading Trump by three points, 49% to 46%, among older voters. The poll said 80% of people over the age of 65 were paying “a lot” of attention to the presidential race.
White House, Democrats Spar Over Trump Coronavirus Aid Orders
The White House and top Democratic lawmakers sparred Sunday over President Donald Trump’ s executive orders to extend expired benefits to tens of millions of American workers left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic and defer payroll taxes for many workers.
Stimulus: Lawmakers Hope To Reach Deal With $1,200 Payments
Top Democrats emerged from a 90-minute meeting with Trump administration officials to declare more progress on reaching common ground in an aid package expected to include a second round of $1,200 direct payments. Another glimmer of hope emerged as a key Senate Republican suggested the party may yield to Democrats on an increase in the food stamp benefit.
US Might Be Facing Extended Economic Depression: Opinion
As the US entered August, the economic damage from the necessary social distancing and closure protocols to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease began to hit. The US economy is suffering an even bigger shock than after the 9/ 11 terror attacks or the 2008 financial crisis.
U.S. Study Reveals Gaps In Chronic Care Needs And Experiences
New research has shed light on a longstanding healthcare system challenge that affects more than 1 in 3 Americans: Health outcomes are not improving for those with complex, chronic health concerns, even though they see their doctor frequently and take multiple medications.
Biden Wants The Fed To Help Close Racial Economic Gaps
This week, the Biden campaign released its fourth and final plank in the former Vice President’s package of economic ideas: a plan for racial economic equity. But contained in the plan was a less-flashy proposal: asking the Federal Reserve to explicitly take race into account when it sets policy.
Don’t Kill Obamacare, Dems Say In Court Brief
House Democrats said the Affordable Care Act will be just fine without the individual mandate. That was one contention made in a Supreme Court brief filed to support the Affordable Care Act against a lawsuit, backed by the Trump administration, that would overturn the 2010 law.
President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Friday aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for consumers, including allowing the importation of drugs from other nations.
US Appeals Court Upholds Reg BI
The court’s decision means that Reg BI, which which establishes a new advice standard for brokers, can take effect as planned on Tuesday.
House Democrats Introduce Bill To Expand ACA
The measure includes Democratic priorities such as expanding the ACA’s subsidies to make premiums more affordable and encouraging states to expand Medicaid by increasing federal Medicaid funding. It also would do away with Trump administration policies such as expanding the availability of short-term plans that compete with ACA coverage.
Franklin Templeton Disavows Racism After Twitter Outrage Over Central Park Incident
Franklin Templeton Investments fired an employee following a confrontation in New York’s Central Park that was caught on video and sparked a discussion on race.
The Trump administration will not reopen the federal health insurance exchanges for a special enrollment period in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, although several states that operate their own exchanges will continue to allow people to sign up for coverage.
Everything You Wanted To Know About The COVID-19 Stimulus Bill
The Senate passed an unparalleled $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems engulfed by the coronavirus pandemic. The unanimous vote Wednesday came despite misgivings on both sides.
Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge To ACA Individual Mandate
The court will hear the case in its new term, which begins in October. This means that the Affordable Care Act will continue for at least another year.
Trump Administration To Permit Medicaid Block Grants
The program — labeled “Healthy Adult Opportunity” — will allow states to ask permission to end their traditional, open-ended Medicaid program and put hard caps on how much money states and the federal government will spend on the poor and disabled.
Pennsylvania Moves To Place Health Insurer In Rehabilitation
Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jennifer Altman filed an application with the state’s Commonwealth Court to have Senior Health Insurance of Pennsylvania placed in rehabilitation.
