Ask The Morning: What Are Your Questions About Psychedelics?
With all this talk of psychedelics in the news and government, you may have questions about the drugs — how they're used, what they do, and why they've seen a surge in popularity in recent years. You can ask us below, and reporters who are experts on psychedelics at The Times will answer.
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- Yahoo
These Creepy-Looking Rabbits With Tentacles Are Going Viral. Here's What's Going On
Today, in perfectly normal news, rabbits with tentacle-like growths on their heads have been spotted in Colorado, and the photos are going viral. A Reddit post sharing the images quickly racked up over 5,000 comments. As one top comment put it, "No no no no no. No Eldritch Bunnies, thank you very much." Related: It' But, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, it's not dangerous to humans. The department told Coloradoan that the growths on the rabbits' heads are caused by a virus, rabbit papilloma. The virus, which is spread by infected mosquitoes and ticks and contact between rabbits, causes these tumors to grow on the animals' heads. Related: If you're thinking you've heard the word "papilloma" somewhere before, you probably have. The rabbit version of the virus is a distant relative of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause warts or even cancer in homo sapiens. It's also theorized that sightings of the jackalope cryptid (a legendary rabbit with horns growing out of its head) are likely just encounters with infected rabbits. The more you know! Related: They look gnarly, but Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose said that the growths don't negatively affect the animals unless they reach a point where they obstruct vision or interfere with their ability to eat. In some cases, after the rabbit clears the virus, the growths will go away without any lasting effects. The virus isn't known to be contagious to humans, but wildlife experts still recommend steering clear of infected animals, and be sure to keep them away from your pets as well. Related: So, though they may look scary: I, for one, hope all the bunnies get well soon! Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds:
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
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More employers are giving workers money to buy their own health insurance
An increasing number of employers are offering their workers cash to buy their own health insurance. Individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, or ICHRAs, a type of health plan in which employers provide nontaxed contributions to employees to pay for medical expenses, including monthly insurance premiums, are picking up momentum. For decades, health policy analysts and employers have tossed around the concept of shifting from traditional employer-sponsored health insurance to a defined contribution approach — giving employees a fixed amount of money with which to buy health coverage themselves. But there wasn't a practical way to do that due to regulatory, market, and administrative hurdles, Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, told Yahoo Finance: 'The emergence of individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements may finally offer a scalable vehicle for that long-anticipated shift.' ICHRAs were created under regulations issued by the Trump administration in 2019 and have been gaining in popularity each year since. This year, an estimated 500,000 people are covered through ICHRAs, according to data from the HRA Council, a trade association that works with vendors to help employers offer them. That's up 50% from 2024, still a thin slice of the market for employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. About 154 million people were enrolled in coverage through their employers last year, according to KFF. Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Who's covered The vast majority of ICHRA adoption is from small businesses with 20 or fewer employees, most of which are offering health coverage for the first time. 'It's definitely something for small businesses,' Fronstin said. 'The market is developing from a group of employers that never offered health benefits or weren't offering health benefits. It's really turning into a new benefit for these people that didn't have access to health coverage through the job. While they're not actually getting health coverage through their job, they're getting tax-free money from their employer to help pay for it.' For now, ICHRAs are playing a role in expanding access to health coverage for people, rather than displacing traditional group plans among larger firms, he said. Fronstin estimates that up to 700,000 people are in these arrangements. 'There are a number of factors that are driving the expansion of ICHRAs, but also some barriers that still need to be worked out to make it become a little bit more of a mainstay in the health insurance landscape,' Matt McGough, a policy analyst at KFF, told Yahoo Finance. Nuts and bolts of do-it-yourself plans It works like this. Employers generally contract with an outside vendor or broker that helps employees navigate the process. Workers do their own insurance shopping through individual insurance markets where they can typically find more choices for coverage than a traditional employer group plan that might offer only two or three choices of plans. With a group plan, employers typically pay for the bulk of the premium. The employer contribution in a group plan depends on myriad factors, from the size of the firm to the industry, location, and the type of health insurance plan — Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) or Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). While there are no annual minimum or maximum contribution requirements with these do-it-yourself arrangements, employers generally provide anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per month, depending on the cost of healthcare where the worker lives and whether it's individual or family coverage. The contribution amount may be a set dollar amount or a percentage of a premium charged by a certain plan. And the plans are portable. If you're an employee, you can keep the coverage if you jump jobs, although you'll no longer have the employer's tax-free contribution. For small businesses with no more than 50 employees, there is a tax incentive to offer these arrangements. They typically qualify for the health care tax credit, which adds up to roughly half of the employer contribution for two consecutive years. What's driving the interest in this coverage The motivation for employers to offer an ICHRA: cost-control. The set amount contribution allows employers to predict their costs more accurately than grappling with annual jumps in group plan healthcare premiums. Half of large employers expect their average healthcare cost to rise by 6% next year, and they plan to reduce their employees' health care benefits to address those rapidly growing costs, according to a recently released report from Mercer. An increasing number of employers are seriously considering plan design changes that would shift more cost to employees, such as raising deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums. No one is saying these ICHRA arrangements are about to overtake the market. It will be a slow and cautious process over the next several years. 'There are a growing number of vendors, many backed by venture capital firms who act as management systems that process the payment and make sure everything is IRS compliant for the tax-advantaged benefits,' McGough said. 'And that's certainly a signal of the market's momentum.'An echo of the shift from pensions to 401(k)s As group coverage becomes more expensive and potentially unattainable for smaller businesses, an ICHRA could be more attractive, McGough said. 'We've heard over and over again from stakeholders across the board that this is like the transition from pensions to 401(k)s moving from that defined benefit to defined contribution,' McGough said. 'Whether it will be as revolutionary as the 401(k) remains to be seen.' Read more: What is a 401(k)? A guide to the rules and how it works 'It's similar in the sense that it's shifting risk — investment risk and longevity risk from employers to workers,' Fronstin added. They also shift the responsibility of plan selection and management to the individual. What will push these arrangements to the next level is 'when a large employer moves into this market and goes out on a limb,' Fronstin said. 'That's going to get everyone else's attention.' And this may take a major economic jolt. 'The next recession is going to put employers' commitment to health benefits to the tests,' he said. 'If unemployment goes back up to 10% for an extended period of time, like it was in 2010, employers may say, 'Hey, I've got an opportunity here. I don't need to offer health benefits anymore the way I've been doing so to attract and retain employees, so I'm going to do something different.'' Generally, no employer wants to be the first to make a change that could be seen as radical, particularly in a tight labor market where recruitment and retention are top concerns, per Fronstin. Health insurance is by far the most mentioned benefit when a worker is deciding whether to stay at or leave a current job. Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work," and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lilly raises UK obesity shot price as Trump pressures pharma
(Bloomberg) — Eli Lilly & Co. is raising the list price for its obesity shot in the UK by as much as 170%, as the pharma industry comes under pressure from US President Donald Trump to increase medicine prices in Europe and lower them for Americans. The current list price in the UK for Lilly's Mounjaro ranges from £92 ($124.89) to £122 a month, depending on the dose. This will increase to between £133 and £330 from Sept. 1, with the US drugmaker saying it aims to bring rates in line with other countries. Trump sent letters to 17 of the world's largest drugmakers earlier this month, including Lilly and Novo Nordisk A/S, which makes the competing shot Wegovy, insisting they lower what they charge Medicaid in the US for existing drugs. He gave the companies 60 days to comply, saying he wants companies to negotiate harder with 'foreign freeloading nations' who pay less for their medicines. Lilly said the increase follows a review that looked to address pricing inconsistencies. The UK was one of the first countries where Mounjaro was introduced, with rates 'significantly below the European average to prevent delays' in availability via the National Health Service, the company added. 'With changes in the environment and new clinical evidence supporting the value of Mounjaro, Lilly are now aligning the list price more consistently to ensure fair global contributions to the cost of innovation,' it said. Affordability Concerns The new list price is still well below the level in the US, where it costs over $1,000 a month. Still, the higher prices raised concerns in online forums from patients who say the drug will be unaffordable for them. Patients in the UK usually get most medicines on the National Health Service for a set prescription price of £9.90. However, obesity drugs have only just started to be rolled out on the NHS and the criteria for access are stringent. So far, the majority of patients who access the weight-loss shots have been doing so privately. The actual price that these patients pay is likely to be well below the list price, because Lilly negotiated commercial agreements with private providers. Still, those providers are likely to face difficult decisions on how much to pass on any price increase to patients. Pharmacies like Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.'s Boots and Superdrug, as well as online providers like Juniper and Voy that have focused on weight-loss drugs, have benefited from the rush for obesity shots. If patients are unable to afford more expensive Mounjaro, they may also switch to Novo's Wegovy. Novo has not yet announced a similar increase in price for its obesity drug. While the list price has increased, Lilly said it is working with private providers to maintain access for patients. Separately, the company reached an agreement with the NHS to ensure continued supply and patient access. —With assistance from Madison Muller. (Updates with more detail on pharmacies selling the shots, from paragraph nine) ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
