—The U.S. government is negotiating with Pfizer to acquire tens of millions of additional vaccine doses in exchange for helping the pharmaceutical giant gain better access to manufacturing supplies. Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration and initial shipments went to states last week.

Health insurance agents saw a flood of people wanting to sign up for coverage in the 2021 open enrollment period for the Obamacare marketplaces – so many people needing coverage, in fact, that some agents reported they simply ran out of time to help everyone.

A new federal relief package is said to feature direct “stimulus” payments of $600 to qualified adults and $600 per child. It would fund another $20 billion for small business grants and $15 billion to live event venues, according to early reports. The $600 direct payments are to be paid to individuals making up to $75,000 per year and couples making $150,000.

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.

Bitcoin broke price records a couple of times last week. So, is it time for advisors to add cryptocurrency to the investing toolbox? Although clients might be asking about bitcoin and its cousins, advisors are just peeking over the fence at this point.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., had been pressing a provision to close down Fed lending facilities that Democrats and the White House said was too broadly worded and would have tied the hands of the incoming Biden administration. The bill, lawmakers and aides say, would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefits and $600 direct stimulus payments.

Democrats were mounting a last-ditch effort to provide emergency aid to states, which they argued was critical to helping governments weather the pandemic and avoid huge layoffs and cuts in services that could reverberate through the economy. Republicans were working to limit the power of the Federal Reserve to provide credit to businesses.

The urgent need for a fresh round of federal aid for small businesses was reinforced Thursday by another troublesome government report on the economy, as Congress neared agreement on a new relief package.

The central elements of a hard-fought compromise appeared in place: more than $300 billion in aid to businesses; a $300-per-week bonus federal jobless benefit and renewal of soon-to-expire state benefits; $600 direct payments to individuals; vaccine distribution funds and money for renters, schools, the Postal Service and people needing food aid.

Vice President Mike Pence will publicly take the COVID-19 vaccine Friday at the White House. He and second lady Karen Pence, along with Surgeon General Jerome Adams, will publicly get the shot to “promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people,” the White House said.

Several sources familiar with the negotiations confirm that the talks are converging on an agreement that would remove two contentious items from the final package: a liability shield for businesses against lawsuits, which Republicans want, and badly needed financial aid to state and local governments, which Democrats want.

Both parties in Washington seem intent on passing another COVID relief bill this month, but it matters what’s in it and especially how it’s paid for. Republicans above all need to repurpose the unused funds from the Treasury backstop for the Federal Reserve’s 13(3) pandemic lending facilities.

Top Washington negotiators continued to reach for a long-delayed agreement on COVID-19 relief, but rank-and-file Democrats appeared increasingly resigned to having to drop, for now, a scaled-back demand for fiscal relief for states and local governments whose budgets have been thrown out of balance by the pandemic.

As the U.S. prepares to administer the coronavirus vaccine following Federal Drug Administration emergency approval last week, national research finds 49 percent of working Americans believe employers should require COVID-19 vaccines in the workplace.

Lawmakers working on a bipartisan $908 billion relief package plan to release their bill Monday, but it’s not expected to include stimulus checks because of opposition from some Senate Republicans. A $916 billion proposal from the Trump administration included a round of $600 direct payments.

No “blue state bailout” is a rallying cry for many congressional Republicans as attempts to provide more federal aid to a nation stricken by an ever-worsening coronavirus pandemic remain stuck in neutral. Yet it’s not just Democratic states asking for help amid plunging tax revenue, rising joblessness and a stuttering economy.

The U.S. FDA approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the United States and inoculation could begin within 48 hours. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine produced by New York- based Pfizer and German-based BioNTech.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners ended their fall meeting by electing a new slate of 2021 officers, with President-elect Dean Cameron announcing that he has COVID-19. Cameron, 59, is a former longtime Idaho state senator and that state’s insurance commissioner.

The Trump administration is trying to revive the president’s stalled election-eve plan to send millions of Medicare recipients a $200 prescription discount card. White House spokesman Judd Deere confirmed the administration is continuing to move forward.

Over one-third of workers (35%) reported that their financial wellness benefits were reduced since the beginning of the pandemic. Gen Z respondents were most impacted by the reduction of financial wellness benefits (51%), followed by Millennials (34%), Gen X (22%) and Boomers (19%).

“100 million shots in the first 100 days,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden said he plans to sign an executive order on his first day in office to mandate mask-wearing where he has the authority to do so, like on federal grounds and in interstate travel.

Although the possibility of a public health care option is off the table for now, the individual health insurance market could see some changes under a Biden administration, according to the president of the American Benefits Council.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Americans mentally, physically, and financially, and as such, has caused many to reexamine the importance of prioritizing long-term care. What’s more, 61% of Americans report they would rather die than live in a nursing home, according to a new Nationwide survey.

With a COVID-19 vaccine perhaps just days away in the U.S., most of California headed into another lockdown Sunday because of the surging outbreak and top health officials warned Americans that this is no time to let their guard down.

Low interest rates have been slamming annuity sales, but multi-year guaranteed annuities have had their best quarter yet. Sheryl J. Moore tells why these CD-like annuities are burning up.

In this interview with Publisher Paul Feldman, David McKnight reveals how advisors can use the tax message as their rallying cry and their killer sales proposition. He also shares tips on how advisors can improve their remote selling game.  

The package is trillions of dollars less than Democrats say are necessary to help Americans, but it provides aid to critical areas such as unemployment compensation and vaccine distribution.

The vote in favor of Waller’s appointment was 48-47. Waller, research director for the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, taught economics for nearly 25 years before joining the St. Louis Fed in 2009. He has endured far less scrutiny than Judy Shelton, the controversial nominee he was paired with and who was voted down in the Senate last month.

The Fed report released Wednesday said that overall, the Fed’s 12 regional banks characterized the economic expansion as “modest or moderate.” But it noted that three Midwest regions and the Philadelphia region reported activity had begun to cool in early November as COVID-19 cases surged.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research released results of their 2020 Workplace Wellness Survey, which showed workers are financially stressed since the onset of the pandemic and want their employers to support them in their financial well-being.

Joe Manchin, D- W.Va., led off a bipartisan group of 16 U.S. senators and representatives announcing a $908 billion COVID-19 emergency relief framework package they hope to bring to both floors for a vote. If passed into law, this package would serve retroactively from Tuesday– Dec. 1– through March 31.

Americans are becoming more optimistic about the U.S. economy, almost a year after the start of the coronavirus crisis as multiple companies are nearing distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, a Gallup survey showed Wednesday. In the spring, 43% rated economic conditions as “poor.” That figure is now down to 23%, lowest in the coronavirus era.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resumed discussions with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who he said would review a proposal she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer presented to their GOP counterparts on Monday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell began circulating his own proposal that tweaked his initial $500 billion relief bill.

Janet Yellen, announced Monday as Biden’ s nominee for treasury secretary, served as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, when she placed a greater emphasis than previous Fed chairs on maximizing employment and less focus on price inflation. Biden also named Cecilia Rouse as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers.