By Vikas Bajaj; The New York Times ~ Jul 24, 2015

The Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T’s $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV on Friday. And, as expected, the commission imposed conditions on the company that should help telecommunications users in many parts of the country.

This deal posed significantly fewer antitrust problems than Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable, which would have combined the nation’s largest and second largest cable companies. (The F.C.C. and the Department of Justice opposed that deal, forcing Comcast to back out of it.) AT&T is primarily a phone and Internet company with a growing cable-TV business, and DirecTV primarily provides satellite-TV service in the United States and Latin America and is not a big player in broadband or telephone services.

From Grace-Marie Turner; Forbes ~ Jul 24, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush tripped the Medicare wire this week in talking about the urgent need for entitlement reform, a key pillar of his plan to get the American economy moving again with 4% growth.

According to a CNN report, he was confronted by a senior citizen at a New Hampshire town hall meeting who said she was very concerned about policies that would change or phase out Medicare.

By Scott Moritz & Todd Shields; Bloomberg ~ Jul 24, 2015

The Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T Inc.’s $48.5 billion takeover of DirecTV with conditions, making the former telephone company a new powerhouse in the television business with international reach.

The FCC will require AT&T to expand broadband service to more U.S. cities and take steps to ensure rivals’ online video is treated fairly. The integration of AT&T and DirecTV will occur over the coming months, the companies said in a statement.

By Deena Beasley & Kylie Gumpert; Reuters ~ Jul 24, 2015

Anthem Inc’s decision to buy Cigna Corp, forming the largest U.S. health insurer by membership, will likely speed consolidation across the healthcare industry, from hospitals to drugmakers.

Anthem announced its proposed $54 billion purchase of Cigna on Friday, just weeks after Aetna Inc said it would buy rival Humana Inc for $37 billion. If both transactions are approved by regulators, the industry will go from five major national players to three.

By Jeanne Whalen, Wall Street Journal – July 23, 2015

By Dan Cook; BenefitsPro ~ Jul 21, 2015

Google hasn’t quite replaced the doctor yet. A recent study out of Harvard Medical School finds that the web isn’t a very good way to figure out what ails you. The study showed that even sites touted as sophisticated symptom-checkers were extremely unreliable.

Many popular symptom-checkers, such as WebMD, respond to symptoms by suggesting many — sometimes dozens — of possible ailments, with the most likely condition at the top.

By Scott Moritz; Bloomberg ~ Jul 20, 2015

AT&T Inc., a long-time laggard behind Verizon Communications Inc. in sales and share performance, is outpacing its larger rival on both metrics.

Results for both companies this week will show whether AT&T can pull further ahead.

AT&T is projected to boost sales faster than Verizon for the next 10 quarters, and it’s about to close a satellite-TV acquisition that will make it the top pay-TV provider in the U.S. while helping it bore deeper into Latin America.

By AWR Hawkins; Breitbart ~ Jul 18, 2015

In a the latest backdoor gun control effort put forward by the White House, President Obama is pushing to ban gun possession for Social Security beneficiaries who are incapable of handling their own finances.

The specific details of the ban are unknown, as it is being put together “outside of public view.” But the LA Times reports that a ban on gun possession due to inability to handle finances would be sweeping; that it would cover those who are unable to manage their own affairs for a multitude of reasons–from “subnormal intelligence or mental illness” to “incompetency,” an unspecified “condition,” or “disease.”

By Dan Caplinger, TMF; Fox Business ~ Jul 18, 2015

Even with Medicare coverage, you can still end up spending a lot of cash out of your wallet. Image source: Medicare.gov.

Tens of millions of Americans 65 and older count on Medicare coverage to pay for the bulk of their healthcare costs. Yet even though Medicare is a fairly comprehensive healthcare program that provides benefits for a wide range of expenses, it is far from perfect.

By Sarah Ferris; The Hill ~ Jul 17, 2015 – 07/17/15 12:05 PM EDT

A pair of House Democrats are attacking the Obama administration for secretly shaping a trade deal that they say boosts profits for American pharmaceutical giants at the expense of patients worldwide.

Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) argued Friday that the U.S. is the only country pushing the “Big Pharma” agenda in the ongoing talks for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.