—After a wild week in which Bitcoin soared to new heights, Bitcoin crossed the $50,000 mark early Tuesday. Bitcoin rallied throughout the as more companies signaled the volatile digital currency could eventually gain widespread acceptance as a means of payment for goods and services.
California could pay insurance company Blue Shield up to $15 million for expenses as it helps the state increase and accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations under a contract the Newsom administration released Monday afternoon. That doesn’t include staff time, which Blue Shield will provide for free, according to the contract.
Digitalizing processes should not be seen as a replacement for the existing agency model. On the contrary: Digital technology should help insurers to automate standard processes and enable the agent as they advise the client to add an extra layer of personalized services.
Millions of Americans have another three months to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, beginning Monday, after President Joe Biden reopened the enrollment window to sign up for coverage. The Biden administration wants to spend $50 million for ACA outreach and education efforts.
Gig work – Uber driving, Instacart shopping, Amazon Flex delivery and so on – is on-demand, freelance work that’s typically taxed as self-employment. Instead of having an employer withhold money from your paycheck, you’re an independent contractor who is expected to pay taxes on your gig income as you earn it.
These bills, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in a half-dozen states, are a response to consumers’ intensified demand for action on drug prices as prospects for solutions from Congress remain highly uncertain.
In February 2020, Americans earned $9.66 trillion in wages and salaries, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the Commerce Department data. A separate measure tracked by the Labor Department shows the same result: Total labor income, excluding government workers, was 0.6% higher in January than it was a year earlier.
The Treasury Department reported Wednesday that the deficit so far for the budget year that began Oct. 1 is 89% higher than the $389.2 billion deficit run up in the same period a year ago. One of the big spending categories last month included $139 billion for another round of individual economic relief payments.
Employer-based coverage will continue to dominate the health insurance landscape in 2021. But the individual health care exchange could gain ground as more workers become freelancers and independent contractors. That was one of 10 trends in health insurance and voluntary benefits discussed during a recent webinar by Aite Group.
Nonessential workers were both most likely to have the highest unemployment rate during the pandemic and the least likely to have a savings cushion. Typically, people in this category of work had savings or credit to cover only three weeks of living expenses and were more likely to be people of color.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data released the January 2021 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows that households’ year-ahead spending growth expectations rose to 4.2%, the highest level recorded in more than five years.
Life insurance application activity continues to grow at a steady pace early in 2021, with year-over-year activity up 3.9%, according to the January MIB Life Index. Growth was largely driven by the 31-50 age group, up 8.5%, MIP reported, while older age groups age 61+ declined year over year.
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift nearly 1 million people out of poverty but would leave even more people without any job at all, the Congressional Budget Office said in a new analysis Monday that deals another blow to President Biden’ s demand for a wage hike in the next coronavirus relief bill.
Fewer consumers report consulting financial professionals in 2020 vs. 2019, according to research from Hearts & Wallets. Bank and insurance reps show the biggest decline, a 10-point drop, in consumers turning to them as sources for investment information and advice.
The direct payments included in multiple rounds of coronavirus relief last year started phasing out for individuals who make more than $75,000 per year and married couples making more than $150,000 per year. Lawmakers are debating whether that cutoff was appropriate for another round of stimulus.
The Federal Reserve has flooded the economy with money, sending the stock market and Wall Street profits soaring. That’s opened the door to a wild party where crazy things happen, like a dramatic upswing in the stock of GameStop, a dying retailer that sells products in a dying format called video.
The Legacy IRA Act gives middle-income seniors more flexibility to make gifts to charities through their individual retirement accounts (IRAs). It would expand the IRA Charitable Rollover by enabling seniors age 65 and over to give up to $400,000 annually tax free to an annuity held by the charity of their choice.
Sanders said he supports an annual-income cutoff of $75,000 for individual earners and $150,000 for couples, not the $50,000 threshold reportedly under consideration by some Democrats reported by The Washington Post.
While many Americans are still waiting for relief from the last federal COVID-19 stimulus package, the Biden administration and congressional Republicans are debating another one. Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion relief effort that includes stimulus payments totaling $2,000 to eligible people ($600 from December and an additional $1,400). The $618 billion GOP alternative would include a total of $1,600 for fewer people.
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.
A recent survey of over 100 health/life insurance experts found that 59% of industry professionals believe that there is a major move online for consumers for the insurance purchase process for personal products like life, health, and property& casualty insurance.
Last week’s total, the third straight, declined from 812,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The report reflects a U.S. job market that is still suffering from the pandemic, with hiring having weakened for six straight months.
—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says there are“ tough months ahead” for the country with COVID-19 continuing to flare, making it critical that Congress pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package. Democrats in Congress have signaled that if GOP support is not forthcoming, they are prepared to pass the measure alone.
According to the study, which evaluated the preferences of 20,000 millennials who completed estate planning documents, more than half (78%) set up a will in 2020, with nearly a quarter (17%) of them citing “2020/The Pandemic” as the primary reason for creating an estate plan.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with top government fiscal experts to examine the impact on U.S. markets stemming from the GameStop stock frenzy that took share prices for a ride on Wall Street last week. A Treasury official said the meeting, which could happen as soon as Thursday, will include Yellen and leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign accelerates, governors, public health directors and committees advising them are holding key discussions behind closed doors, including debates about who should be eligible for the shots and how best to distribute them.
The Super Bowl Indicator suggests stocks rise for the full year when the Super Bowl winner has come from the original National Football League (now the NFC), but when an original American Football League (now the AFC) team has won, stocks fall. What does that mean for Sunday’s game?
—Now, even the pros on Wall Street are asking if the stock market has shot too high. But Wall Street kept justifying the gains by pointing to massive support from the Federal Reserve, lifesaving deliverance from COVID-19 vaccines and efforts by Congress to pump more stimulus into the economy.
Lawyer Desmond H. Staple died March 16, 2016. According to news reports, he was found unresponsive in his car in a Walmart parking lot in Hillsborough County. The medical examiner found large quantities of acetaminophen and aspirin in his blood stream.
A new research report reveals that while nearly half of mid-size bank and credit union executives are more optimistic about 2021 relative to 2020, they remain especially concerned about the interest rate environment and a weak economy.
The 10 GOP senators are calling for about $618 billion in federal spending. The aid would come on top of the $900 billion coronavirus package that Congress passed in December and the $2.2 trillion package passed in March. The 10 GOP senators seek $1,000 checks.
There isn’t an easy workaround for tax refunds shriveled by inadequate withholding. But Congress provided a potential fix for the tax credits issue in the $900 billion coronavirus relief legislation passed last month: Filers can choose to use their 2019 income to determine their credits rather than their 2020 income.
The COVID-19 epidemic highlighted the need for life insurance and illuminated the gap of uninsured and underinsured American families, a longstanding problem illustrated by LIMRA research.
State Farm made a January 2020 move that would power the insurer through a turbulent year: It rekindled its iconic tagline, “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There.” The 49-year-old line is among the most recognizable phrases in advertising, said Ad Age, which named State Farm a 2020 Marketer of the Year.
Many young adults already believe Social Security won’t be around for them to collect. Although Social Security isn’t bankrupt, it’s certainly facing a serious shortfall in income to cover promised payments. Finding a consensus to fix the shortfall won’t be easy.
For President Biden, Job 1 is halting the pandemic. With supplies already running low of the two brands now in distribution, his administration’ s prompt approval of Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, reportedly possible within weeks, would boost supplies by millions of doses.
When it shorts a stock, it must borrow the stock from someone else and sell it. Its goal is then to buy it back at a lower price in the future and return it to whoever it borrowed from. Now, the universe of investable stocks is not infinite. There may be 3,000 or so stocks that are big enough for hedge funds to really invest in.
The COVID-19 pandemic is motivating large numbers of people to seek life insurance coverage for their families. Faster underwriting and direct-to-consumer channels also helped Principal boost its life insurance count, CEO Dan Houston said.
—U.S. consumers slowed their spending by 0.2% in December, cutting back for a second straight month in a worrisome sign for an economy struggling under the weight of a still out-of-control pandemic. The decline reported Friday by the Commerce Department followed a seasonally adjusted 0.7% drop in November.
Americans owe nearly $1 trillion in credit card debt, an all-time high, according to the Federal Reserve. Much of that debt was piled on over the last half of 2020 when many people on unemployment lost the CARES Act’s $600 supplemental. Congress continues to debate another round of assistance.
—Stuck in the grip of a viral pandemic, the U.S. economy grew at a 4% annual rate in the final three months of 2020 and shrank last year by the largest amount in 74 years. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department estimated that the nation’s gross domestic product slowed sharply in the October-December quarter.
Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the Federal Reserve will keep pursuing its low-interest rate policies until an economic recovery is well underway, acknowledging that the economy has faltered in recent months. The Fed said in a statement after its latest policy meeting that hiring and economic growth had slowed.
U.S. stocks took a steep dive Wednesday amid a negative outlook on pandemic recovery from the Federal Reserve and increased concern over heightened speculative trading. “The path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus, including progress on vaccinations,” the Federal Open Market Committee said.
Appearing on the inaugural 2021 Allianz Global webcast Tuesday, Guy Adami of CNBC’s “Fast Money” did not hold back his concerns about corporate recklessness. Fueling that recklessness is a Federal Reserve that has been “extraordinarily accommodative” over the past 12 years or so, Adami said.
Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said that his organization wants to assist the administration in its goals of COVID-19 relief and economic recovery, while calling for health equity in America’s communities.
The Allstate Corporation has agreed to sell Allstate Life Insurance Company (ALIC) to entities managed by Blackstone for $2.8 billion.
Biden said the weekly allocation will grow from 8.6 million doses to 10 million, a 16% increase, based on its review of what manufacturers have available. “Lives are at stake here,” Mr. Biden said from the White House State Dining Room. “This is an aggregate plan that doesn’ t leave anything on the table,” Biden said.“ This is a wartime effort.”
The lawsuit focuses on universal life insurance policies issued by Security Life under names such as Strategic Accumulator Universal Life. The policies include a separate COI charge deducted monthly and meant to compensate Security Life for its mortality risk, the lawsuit noted.
The Senate on Monday approved President Joe Biden’s nomination of Janet Yellen to be the nation’s 78th treasury secretary, making her the first woman to hold the job in the department’s 232-year history.
—The Federal Reserve this week will likely underscore its commitment to its low-interest rate policies, even as the economy recovers further from the devastation of the viral pandemic. President Joe Biden has since proposed another financial support plan— a $1.9 trillion package that is larger than many economists had expected.
The Florida Supreme Court settled last week a critical property/casualty coverage issue dating to Hurricane Frances in 2004, ruling that an apartment complex owner cannot sue for lost rental income. The case threatened to set a critical precedent for P&C insurers.
As the pandemic enters its most intensive phase yet and job growth stalls, just 39% of Americans surveyed say they could cover an unexpected expense of $1,000. Underscoring the shaky finances of many Americans, Bankrate’s January Financial Security Index finds that fewer than 4 in 10 U.S. adults could absorb a sudden cost.
President Joe Biden, who was sworn into office on Wednesday, has made it a top priority to accelerate vaccine distribution, pledging to administer at least 100 million doses in the first 100 days of his administration. So far, vaccine distribution has been slow.
When COVID-19 first swarmed the United States, one health insurer called some customers with a question: Do you have enough to eat? Oscar Health wanted to know if people had adequate food for the next couple weeks and how they planned to stay stocked up while hunkering down at home.
Janet Yellen is one step closer to becoming Treasury secretary, with the Senate Finance Committee’s unanimously approving her nomination on Friday.
–Roughly half of U.S. employees want more help from their employers to save for retirement, balance their work and life issues, and get the most value from their employee benefits, according to research from the Global Benefits Attitudes Survey by Willis Towers Watson.
A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit accusing MetLife and its executives of defrauding investors concerning accounting for its retirement and income solution line of business. In a Jan. 11 decision, Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. of the Eastern District of New York found the claims “without merit.”
A day after being sworn in, President Joe Biden is rolling out a national strategy to fight COVID-19, reopen the nation’s schools and restart the U.S. economy. —Establishes a federal COVID-19 response team to coordinate efforts across agencies and restores a White House team on global health risks.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain instructed executive department and agency heads to put a hold on recently-issued rules and regulations and to refrain from issuing new ones. Klain said departments should consider postponing the effective dates of rules already published, such as the DOL investment advice rule.
