The Iowa House voted 69-30 to approve a legislative package that seeks to allow small business and associations in the state to offer health plans that are not fully compliant with the Affordable Care Act, The Gazette reported. Senate File 2349 will allow small employers to band together to buy insurance through so-called association health plans
Allstate Corp.'s Sanders Re Ltd. Series 2018-1 catastrophe bond
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is upset that a healthcare market stabilization proposal backed by her and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has not made it in the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package unveiled on March 21. The exclusion of the health bill from the omnibus was "extremely disappointing," she tweeted, adding that it was the "last opportunity" to prevent rate hikes and help stabilize the market.
The House could vote on the omnibus as soon as today, according to The Hill.
Regulators should be cautious about measuring an insurer's systemic risk
Following significant initial financial losses, health insurers' profitability in the Affordable Care Act
Featured news
GSK in lead for Pfizer's consumer arm; Sanofi generics unit bidder drops out: House and Senate leaders have agreed to give the National Institutes of Health a $3 billion boost in funding under the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package unveiled late-night yesterday, granting the biomedical research agency total funding of over $37 billion for fiscal 2018, its largest budget ever.
Financial news in other parts of the world
Asia-Pacific: China names head of new financial regulator; Japan insurers to merge pension ops
Europe: Deutsche Bank slides; UBS, New York reach settlement; SocGen sets CET1 target
Middle East & Africa: 2 Abu Dhabi funds merging; South Africa, Nigeria sit out African free trade pact
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 1.09% to 31,071.05, and the Nikkei 225 was up 0.99% to 21,591.99.
In Europe, as of midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.60% to 6,996.71, and the Euronext 100 fell 0.92% to 1,014.11.
On the macro front
The jobless claims report, the FHFA house price index, the PMI Composite Flash report, the leading indicators report, the EIA natural gas report, the Kansas City fed manufacturing index, the fed balance sheet and the money supply report are due out today.
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