DAILY UPDATE: Medicare and PBMs as Markets Slither

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The S&P 500 (^GSPC) just capped its best first four trading days under a new president since Ronald Reagan’s first week in 1985. And, the week ahead will bring investors a deluge of news that will put that rally to the test.

Earnings from more than 100 members of the S&P 500 — highlighted by results from tech heavyweights Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and Tesla (TSLA) — are set for release, with Wednesday serving as the week’s busiest. Starbucks (SBUX), Exxon (XOM), and Chevron (CVX) are also set to report.

On this coming ednesday afternoon, the Federal Reserve will also announce its latest monetary policy decision, with the central bank expected to keep interest rates unchanged and investors focused on what Fed Chairman Jay Powell has to say about the balance of 2025.

Last week, the S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite (^IXIC), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) each rallied during a holiday-shortened four day trading week. Over the last five days, the S&P 500 and Dow have gained more than 2.8%; the tech index is leading gains over that period, rising more than 3.1%.

Markets welcomed Trump’s initial days in office as limited news on tariffs steadied investors and a massive AI investment announcement helped boost tech stocks.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

The FTC’s second interim staff report on consolidated pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) found that the three largest of these middlemen—CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna Group’s Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx—”marked up two specialty generic cancer drugs by thousands of percent and then paid their affiliated pharmacies hundreds of millions of dollars of dispensing revenue in excess of estimated acquisition costs for each drug annually.”

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

Medicare and the Trump 2.0 Administration

People have been concerned about the future of Medicare for years. Now that Donald Trump has begun his second term in office, the question becomes: What will happen next?

According to the JAMA Network and ABC News, here are some predictions for what may come:

  • There will be greater price transparency: During his first term, Trump worked to make prices more transparent to both individuals and health care organizations. This may very well continue.
  • More emphasis on Medicare Advantage plans: Under Project 2025, it’s possible that Medicare Advantage plans will become the “default option for Medicare coverage.” This could lead to a privatization of the program.

Medicare’s future remains to be seen. For now, the best thing current and future retirees can do is keep an eye on their coverage options and costs.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.

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