PENINSULA DAILY NEWS for Friday/Saturday, February 7-8, 2014 PAGE
B8 $ Briefly . . .
Obama considering insurance extension Policies out of compliance could survive BY TOM MURPHY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Obama administration is considering an extension of the president’s decision to let people keep their individual insurance policies even if they are not compliant with the health care overhaul, according to two top industry officials. Avalere Health CEO Dan Mendelson said Thursday that the administration may let policyholders keep that coverage for an additional three years, stressing that no decision has been made. Policymakers are waiting to see what rate hikes health insurers plan for the insurance exchanges that are key to the overhaul’s coverage expansions. “The administration is entertain-
ing a range of options to ensure that this individual market has stability to it, and that would be one thing that they could do,” he said. Avalere Health is a market analysis firm, but Mendelson said his company was not advising the administration on exchange policy. He said he has had informal discussions with administration officials about the extension, but he didn’t identify them.
‘All sorts of ways’ A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, Joanne Peters, said “We are continuing to examine all sorts of ways to provide consumers with more choices and to smooth the transition as we implement the law.” Aetna Inc. Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini also told analysts during a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings that he had heard the plans may be extended. Aetna is the nation’s third-largest health insurer. Aetna Chief Financial Officer Shawn Guertin said in an interview after the call that there have been
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14 million buyers An estimated 14 million people were already buying their own individual insurance policies. Many of them are self-employed business owners, others are early retirees, and some are in transition between jobs. The wave of cancellation notices — at least 4.7 million of them — hit just when the new HealthCare.gov website was experiencing some of its worst technical problems, and it undercut the president’s well-publicized promise that if you liked your plan, you could keep it.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ronnie Howard works at a post on the floor of the New York Stock ‘Oversold’ market Exchange. The major U.S. indexes posted their largest increases of the “The market was very year Thursday.
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That report, combined with a private survey on U.S. hiring released Wednesday, appeared to bolster investors’ confidence that the government will issue a positive January jobs report today. All week, investors have been looking ahead to the employment survey and what it will augur for the
economy.
Job growth Evidence of healthy U.S. job growth would suggest that the world’s biggest economy is still expanding at a solid pace. That would comfort investors, many of whom became uneasy in recent weeks after signs of weaker global growth emerged. Those concerns were seen by some other investors as a buying opportunity. “The fear in the markets has subsided some,” said Marc Doss, regional chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. Thursday’s gains were broad. All 10 of the S&P 500’s sectors rose. Three
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Standard & Poor’s 500
1,773.43
+45.57
+21.79
Russell 2000
+10.33 1,103.93
NYSE diary Advanced:
2,341
Declined:
772
Unchanged: Volume:
111 3.7 b
Nasdaq diary Advanced:
1,670
Declined:
888
Unchanged: Volume:
147 1.9 b AP
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nutrients, which help babies stay healthy. But the new rules will help the FDA keep tabs on companies to make sure they are following the law. The rule would require manufacturers to provide data to the FDA proving that their formulas support normal physical growth and that ingredients are of sufficient quality. “The FDA sets high CVS quits tobacco quality standards for WASHINGTON — infant formulas because President Barack Obama nutritional deficiencies is praising CVS Caremark during this critical time of for its decision to stop sell- development can have a ing tobacco products at its significant impact on a drugstores. child’s long-term health Obama said CVS is set- and well-being,” said ting a “powerful example” Michael Taylor, the FDA’s and said the decision will deputy commissioner for help his administration’s foods. efforts to reduce tobaccoThe rules also are related deaths and disease aimed at new companies and bring down health care that come into the market. costs. In recent years, grocery Obama is a former ciga- store aisles have become rette smoker. even more crowded with First lady Michelle new kinds of formula, some Obama said in 2011 that capitalizing on natural or her husband had finally organic food trends. kicked the habit. CVS Caremark, the Jobless benefits nation’s second-largest WASHINGTON — The drugstore chain, said Senate failed to move forWednesday it will phase ward on a three-month out cigarettes, cigars and extension of assistance for chewing tobacco by Oct. 1, the long-term unemployed a move that will cost it Thursday, leaving it unlikely about $2 billion in annual that Congress would approve revenue. Obama, in a statement, the measure soon while undercutting a key aspect of said the new CVS policy President Barack Obama’s “will have a profoundly economic recovery plan. positive impact on the Fifty-nine senators, health of our country.” including four Republicans, New formula rules voted to advance the legislation, falling one vote short WASHINGTON — After of the 60 needed to break a nearly two decades of Republican filibuster effort. study, the Food and Drug Republicans and DemoAdministration announced crats, many from the rules Thursday designed to nation’s most economically make sure that infant fordepressed states, had been mula is safe and nutritious. trying to reach a solution Most formula makers that would allow people already abide by the pracwho have exhausted their tices, but the FDA now will unemployment insurance to have rules on the books continue receiving benefits that ensure formula manuas long as the government facturers test their prodoffset the $6 billion cost. ucts for salmonella and other pathogens before disGold, silver tribution. Gold futures for April The rules also require delivery rose 30 cents, or formula companies to prove to the FDA that they 0.07 percent, to $1,257.20 are including specific nutri- an ounce Thursday. Silver for March delivents — proteins, carbohyery rose 12 cents, or drates, fats, vitamins and 0.6 percent, to $19.93 an minerals — in their prodounce. ucts. Peninsula Daily News It is already law that and news services formula must include those
BY ALEX VEIGA
The move propelled major European stock indexes sharply higher. Then the markets got a dose of good news on the U.S. job market. The Labor Department reported that fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week.
Feb. 6, 2014
Dow Jones industrials
QUILCENE — Ed McAvoy, financial adviser with U.S. Bancorp, will speak to the North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Feb. 17. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101. McAvoy will discuss financial planning for small businesses and owners.
Indexes make their strongest 2014 showing
Both indexes were still down about a half-percent for the week following a steep drop Monday. The Nasdaq composite gained 45 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,057.12. Thursday’s surge began overseas, where the European Central Bank decided not to cut interest rates.
Market watch
Business talk set
Stock market makes comeback
oversold going into the day’s trading,” said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 188.30 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 15,628.53. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 21.79 points, also 1.2 percent, to 1,773.43.
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PORT ANGELES — Harbinger Winery, 2358 U.S. Highway 101 W., will host a Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce mixer from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday. The event will coincide with preparations for the fifth anniversary of the Peninsula Young Professional Network. Chamber members and young professionals of Clallam County will get a chance to meet and talk at the networking event. For more information, email Charlie Comstock at Charlie@portangeles.org.
discussions about whether the plans should be extended again, but he didn’t have any more details. Individual policyholders were hit with a wave of cancellation notices last year because their coverage was less robust than what is required under the law, and many states allowed insurance companies to simply cancel them This became one of the most politically explosive issues in the transition to a new health insurance system under Obama’s law.
After a rocky start to the week, U.S. stocks roared back Thursday, giving major stock indexes their biggest gain of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 index each closed up 1.2 percent, their largest single-day increase since Dec. 18. The rally helped the market rebound a day after a modest loss and continued a gradual comeback since a Monday plunge of more than 2 percent.
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