Home sales tick up
July 30, 2018
Policy Watch
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Lawmakers announce drug pricing bill in the House. Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Rep Francis Rooney have announced their co-sponsorship of the FAIR Drug Pricing Act, or Fair Accountability and Innovative research. The topic of sky high prescription drug prices has captivated Washington’s attention in recent weeks, and the White House has issued its own plan to address drug prices in addition to numerous legislative fixes introduced in Congress. The Fair Drug Pricing Act would work to “require drug companies to give notice and justification for raising the price of a drug more than 10 percent at one time or more than 25 percent over three years,” and the bill enjoys bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. [CNBC]
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CMS approved Wisconsin plan addressing high ACA premiums. The administrations’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a plan authored by the Wisconsin state government and developed to lower premiums for health insurance plans in the state. The plan will disburse $200 million to insures to cover health care costs for expensive patients, with the $200 million coming mostly from the federal government with $34 million covered by the state treasury. The program will reimburse insurers for claims between $50,000 and $250,000, up to the $200 million cap. While critics have expressed concerns that other policies supported by Wisconsin’s Republican Governor have caused increases in premiums, supporters argue the payments are key to reducing rapidly increasing premium costs [The Hill]
Economic News
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Home sales tick up, low year over year. US home sales climbed 0.9% from May to June, but those sales were 2.5% lower than in June 2017. Home sales increased fastest in the Northeast and South of the country, but increases were all around modest due to consistent supply shortages in the market. While housing inventory is up 0.5% since June 2017, this increase is the first in three years, indicating home supply is unlikely to meet market demand. That mismatch has weighed down affordability, with the West coast experiencing the most intense shortages and the resulting decline in home sales. [CNBC]
- Pending home sales, a measure of signed contracts to buy existing homes, rose 0.9 percent in June compared to May, according to the National Association of Realtors.
