Medicare enrollees may be getting cheaper medication
TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and a landmark deal between the White House and drugmakers.
Transcript
00:00I'm Conway Giddens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today.
00:04It was a day of strong gains for the stock market as recession fears were swept aside.
00:10Retail sales surprisingly saw their biggest jump in a year and a half in July and
00:14new applications for unemployment benefits fell to a one-month low.
00:19Walmart kept the good vibes going with quarterly results that showed shoppers at all income levels continued to spend.
00:26Consumers will remain in focus on Friday when consumer sentiment figures are released.
00:31Investors will also get a glimpse into Warren Buffett's empire when Berkshire Hathaway releases its quarterly numbers.
00:37In other headlines, the White House announced price tags for 10 key medications that it says will reduce
00:44Medicare expenses by roughly six billion dollars starting in 2026.
00:48Medicare users, on the other hand, are estimated to save one and a half billion dollars in co-payments beginning the same year.
00:55The announcement culminates tense negotiations between the Biden administration, Medicare officials, and the pharmaceutical industry.
01:03President Biden called this a historic milestone.
01:06Quote, it's a relief for the millions of seniors that take these drugs to treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes,
01:14arthritis, Crohn's disease, and more. And it's a relief for American taxpayers.
01:19He also said, quote, the vice president and I are not backing down.
01:24We will continue to fight to make sure all Americans can pay less for prescription drugs and to give more breathing room for American families.
01:33Other results of the landmark negotiation include a cap on how much patients pay for insulin and limits on total out-of-pocket prescription costs each year.
01:43Pharmaceutical companies say the price caps do not reflect the true cost their drugs contributes to improving quality of life.
01:50That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange. I'm Conway Gittens with The Street.