Its of expansion also says the Unemployment Rate is down to 4. 1 , down for two straight months the holding at a 17year low. What is the reason for some of these positive figures . Guest we have been in a long stretch of economic expansion to we have been growing fairly consistently in this country since the middle of 2009, so we are starting to see that they all for more and more americans. Businesses are seeing demands for their products and services, and they need workers to meet those demands. Are there any surprises in this report so far . Is the economy over performing . Guest i think it is performing pretty close to its peak capacity, which is what a lot of people are reporting. The other is the wages figure. We are not seeing the pickup in wages that we have seen when the Unemployment Rate has been near 4 . Host what does this say about the outlook . Ahe can we expect to come ad . Can we expect to see this continual uptick . The jobs far as market, i would expect to see a bit o
Geled the director of the center for pharmaceutical policy and prescribing at the university of pittsburgh and also an associate professor of medicine and Health Policy and here to help walk us through the impact of the proposed merger between c. V. S. And aetna. Thank you so much for joining us today. A pleasure. Ood morning. Host good morning. Cvs changed its name three years ago some say to reposition itself as a Health Company rather than just a drug store. Of about the significance a major drug store chain merging with a Health Care Insurance provider. Guest yeah. It is almost like this transition has been happening for decades. Cvs started in the 1960s as a single store and has been expanding its footprint since that time. The Minute Clinics opened about a decade ago. Then it joined with a pharmacy benefits manager to do other things and then it added some longterm care services. Some infusion services. Then it changed its name and got rid of tobacco. It has really been the evolu
As a Health Care Company rather than a drugstore. Talk about that. Talk about the significance of a major drugstore chain merging with a Health Care Insurance provider. Dr. Gellad it is a must like this transition has been happening for decades. Cvs started in the 1960s as a single store. Kind of been expanding its footprint since that time. The Minute Clinics a decade ago, and then a joint with a pharmacy benefits manager to do other things and then it added some longterm care services, and some infusion services. It changed its name and got rid of tobacco. It really has been the evolution of the pharmacy. You set it. This is what makes it so unique atthat this happening pharmacy which is probably the first time this has happened in terms of integrating pharmacy more into the structure of health care. Host talk a bit more about wha is trying tok cvs achieve with this merger. Dr. Gellad yeah, only they know, but you can, your imagination can fly in terms of what is possible for this. I
You have had two triple digit down days. I am curious to see if we are going to see twitter trump or teleprompter trump. David all of the reporting down here is going to be teleprompter. By words are being written Stephan Miller who tend to be a little bit of a hothead. Inx heres what we stack up the markets. The s p coming off its worst selloff since august and continuing today s p futures down by another 12 points. It is now a story of broader dollar weakness. Strong gdp out of europe. Yields taking a break pretty much unchanged. There was some buying in the market. Hit downtinuing to get 5. 8 . I want to highlight some movers as well. A lot of action happening in the market. Metlife hasnt set aside enough money to pay annuity holders. Stock continuing to get hit premarket. There is going to be a buyout for this company. That is no longer true. That stock getting hammered. That stock now unchanged. Take. Time for first those equityry is markets fairly shaken by the selloff in bonds.
I gave them my Insurance Information and they came back and they said, we dont know. I would like to know how common that is and what is being done to try to let folks actually know what something costs. I might add, i had at the time a high deductible, so it was an important question about my outofpocket costs. The second question is Medicare Part d, when i noted it in the biography, mr. White was involved with in 2003, has a provision prohibiting the government from negotiating prices with the drug companies. And my question is, why is that still in the law . You want to take that one, ed . Why dont you start and ill do the first one. The second one real quick. The first one was, why cant they tell me what the price is . Like i said, forget about the email. Ask them what a price is and its like getting trade secrets out of cuba, right . Its next to impossible. What were seeing is that what the price is and what i owe are two different questions, right . So if i have coverage, i think