As retirees deal with rising healthcare costs and high inflation, many are seeing the costs of Medicare Part D drugs skyrocket, according to a report from the AARP. In fact, the list prices for the 25 brand-name drugs with the highest total Medicare Part D spending in 2021 have increased by 226% on average since these medications entered the market, the AARP…
One more month of data will determine how much of an increase Social Security recipients will receive in 2024.. By law, the annual increase– known as the Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA– is based on average inflation during July, August and September as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Warners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W., according to the…
Medical credit cards are putting patients in even worse financial conditions as health care debt grows in the United States, consumer advocates say. This year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. Centers for Medicare& Medicaid Services, and the U.S. Department of Treasury are requesting information about medical credit cards and other…
Federal Reserve officials say they have no intention of lowering interest rates until they see convincing evidence that inflation is retreating back to their 2 percent target.. “There are promising developments, but given the continued strength in demand, my view is that it is just too early to take the recent improvements as evidence that inflation is on a…
United States Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger announced that Christopher Anderson, 47, of Flemington, and Richard Curry, 36, of Northumberland, Pa., each pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which NJBIZ reported on last month, was spearheaded by Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein, 48, of Lakewood,…
The Federal Reserve completes a 17- month cycle of increasing the Fed funds rate from its low of 0.25% to 5.50% in July 2023. Today, the discussion turns around the inflection point or the length that rates will remain at these levels. However, in March the world was directly impacted by the Ukraine- Russia conflict.
Sally Nix was furious when her health insurance company refused to pay for the infusions she needs to ease her chronic pain and fatigue. That's why, when Nix's health insurer started denying payment for the treatment, she turned to Facebook and Instagram to vent her outrage. "I was raising Cain about it," said Nix, 53, of Statesville, North Carolina, who said she was…
New York, Aug 24- The president of the United States Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, will return this Friday to the town of Jackson Hole, where the famous economic conference of the same name is held every year, with inflation finally down but far from the regulators' target of 2%. All the more so as it is just a few months since the central bank began raising rates: the…
There's an unknown about to be resolved this week with the central bankers' meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States: what message will Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell send out this Friday? Last year, Powell used the meeting to reinforce the idea of the need for a tighter monetary policy and that, despite all the developments over the year, will…
The circle of pain and suffering surrounding disgraced legacy attorney and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh is a broad one. Walterboro man pleads guilty to money laundering, drug charges According to the S.C. Attorney General's Office, Jerry K. Rivers, 40, of Walterboro, pleaded guilty on Thursday, Aug. 17, to fraud, money laundering, drug charges, and other crimes…
Since January, Florida customers have made more than 7,000 complaints about their property insurance carriers' response to Hurricane Ian claims.
More cardholders are carrying more credit card debt than ever before, and they're paying a steep price for the privilege, a Bankrate survey on credit card debt finds. According to new data, 47% of credit cardholders currently carry debt from month to month— up slightly from 46% in December 2022 and 39% in December 2021. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New…
A Birmingham man has been federally charged in an app-based and seemingly lucrative fake check scheme that allegedly took more than $15 million from businesses, charitable groups and individuals. "I have calculated that the total value of the checks posted to the' Work Related Slips' Telegram channel between October 22, 2022, and August 8, 2023, is more than…
Former New Jersey Nets player Terrence Williams was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for masterminding a scheme to steal $5 million from the National Basketball Association's health care plan. Williams, 36, admitted in August 2022 to orchestrating the conspiracy, in which he roped in 18 former ballers to defraud the NBA's Health and Welfare Benefit…
Tampa-based insurer Slide is set to take over as many as 100,000 homeowners policies in October from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. — the state-run insurer — according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.Driving the news: Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky approved proposals this week that allow four other private insurers to assume Citizens policies, too. The…
For an economist as I am, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's press conferences have become ever more painful to watch. Milton Friedman taught us inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." A recent Federal Reserve study suggested that as many as 37% of US companies have distressed debt situations.
Her power is so great that even the U.S. Federal Reserve has included in its latest' Beige Book' the impact of the so-called' Swift effect' on private consumption wherever she goes. The 33- year-old' Love Story' singer will have an additional $1 billion in her bank account for all of the shows worldwide when the tour ends on August 17, 2024 in Europe.
British multimillionaire Joe Lewis, owner of the Lago Escondido ranch in southern Argentina and owner of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer club, turned himself in to the U.S. justice system on Wednesday to testify in the case that investigates him for financial fraud and insider trading. How many people in Argentina could have been accomplices of his alleged…
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is suing the US government in a bid to block a program that would give the government health insurance program Medicare the ability to negotiate for lower drug prices. J&J is the latest major drugmaker to sue the Biden administration, joining Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb. The lobbyist group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have…
