Ticker: New COVID-19 rules exempt most employers; Alzheimer drug could be a budget buster, study; Ex-UAW leader gets 28-month sentence

The Biden administration exempted most employers from long-awaited rules for protecting workers from the coronavirus.

The Labor Department included only health care workers in its new emergency temporary standard published on Thursday.

The rules require those employers to draw up a virus protection plan, and tighten requirements for recording and reporting COVID-19 cases among workers.

Rather than issue mandatory rules for other workplaces, the administration released new nonbinding guidance. Most workplaces where people are fully vaccinated no longer need to provide any protection from the coronavirus, according to the guidance issued by Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the federal agency responsible for protecting workers.

Alzheimer drug could cost Medicare billions, study

A new $56,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug would raise Medicare premiums broadly, and some patients who are prescribed the medication could face copayments of about $11,500 annually, according to a research report published Wednesday.

The drug, called Aduhelm, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration this week. It’s the first Alzheimer’s medication in nearly 20 years.

The analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that if just 500,000 Medicare recipients are prescribed Aduhelm, it would cost the program nearly $29 billion a year, far more than any other medication.

“At this price, the cost of this one drug alone could top all others covered by Medicare, if it is used widely,” said Tricia Neuman, coauthor of the report.

Medicare has not made a formal determination on covering Aduhelm, but cost traditionally does not enter into such considerations. Drugmaker Biogen has said it priced Aduhelm responsibly.

Ex-UAW leader gets 28-month sentence

He plotted to steal up to $1.5 million in union dues, and the money he diverted was spent on golf clubs, vacation homes, booze and lavish meals, fostering a culture of corruption within the United Auto Workers union.

Now former UAW president Gary Jones will have to spend 28 months in a federal prison and repay thousands of dollars for his crimes.

Jones, 64, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Paul Borman in Detroit after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy last year.

Before sentencing, Jones choked up in the courtroom as he apologized to his family and union members for his actions. “I failed them. I failed the UAW that elected me as president,” he told Borman. “All I can say is I’m sorry I let them down, I let my family down.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3zimYbz