Slowing costs lower price of health reform

WASHINGTON – Slowing health care costs are driving down the price tag of President Barack Obama’s health overhaul, just as the Supreme Court is weighing whether to strike a key part of the law.

Estimates released Monday reduce the projected cost to taxpayers by $142 billion over the next decade. That’s an 11 percent drop from previous estimates.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office cited two reasons for the decline: Health insurance premiums are rising slower than projected, and new data show there were fewer people without health insurance before the law. Fewer people without insurance means slightly fewer people will need to take advantage of the law to gain coverage, the CBO said.

Still, over the next decade, the budget office said 24 million to 25 million people a year will get coverage because of the law.

Obama urges focus on high-tech training

WASHINGTON – Targeting stagnant wages in an otherwise improving economy, President Barack Obama on Monday called on employers, educational institutions and local governments to develop a home-grown high-technology workforce that could help drive up higher-income employment.

The effort aims to attack a stubborn downside of the current economic recovery and fill what the White House says is a gaping demand for high-tech workers in the United States.

“We’ve got to keep positioning ourselves for a constantly changing global economy,” Obama said in announcing his “TechHire” initiative at a gathering of the National League of Cities. Obama has obtained commitments from more than 300 employers as well as local governments in 21 regions of the country to train and hire low-skilled workers for jobs in software development, network administration and cybersecurity.

Under the program, the Obama administration will provide $100 million in competitive grants to joint initiatives by employers, training institutions and local governments that target workers who don’t have easy access to training. The money comes from fees companies pay to the government to hire higher-skilled foreign workers under the H-1B visa program.

McDonald’s reports lower sales in February

McDonald’s said its U.S. sales fell 4 percent in February and 1.7 percent worldwide in the company’s first monthly report under new chief executive Stephen Easterbrook.

The decrease marks a sharp downturn from January when U.S. sales increased 0.4 percent, and global sales fell 1.8 percent. Easterbrook, who became chief executive March 1, has said his mission is to revive sales as competition intensifies in the U.S.