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Netflix has removed its basic, ad-free plan from its list of options for new subscribers in the U.S. and U.K.
The move comes shortly after Netflix’s introduction of its cheaper, ad-supported option.
Netflix has also begun rolling out its password-sharing policy, pushing freeloaders to pay for their own accounts.

The Netflix logo displayed on a phone screen and its website on a laptop screen are seen in this photo taken in Krakow, Poland, June 8, 2023.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Netflix has gotten rid of its cheapest commercial-free plan in the U.S. and the U.K., in a push to get more sign-ups for its recently launched ad-supported option.
On its plans and pricing page, which outlines all subscriber options, Netflix noted that the basic plan, which cost $9.99 and didn’t feature ads, was no longer available for new or rejoining members. Current subscribers of the plan won’t be affected unless they choose to change plans or cancel.

The move leaves Netflix’s standard with ads plan, which is priced at $6.99 a month, as its cheapest option.
During last quarter’s earnings call, Netflix Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said the “economics” of its ad-supported plan were higher than the basic plan. “It’s actually even higher than our standard plan,” he said during the call, adding that advertising was incremental to both its revenue and profit.
Former Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings admitted late last year that he was slow to embracing advertising on the streaming platform because he was so focused on digital competition from tech companies. Shortly after, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during an investor conference that Netflix was likely to offer multiple ad-supported tiers over time.
The standard and premium plans without ads cost $15.49 and $19.99, respectively, a month.
Netflix, similar to other media companies, has been looking to boost streaming profits, and advertising has been considered a key step toward making that happen.

Similarly, Disney CEO Bob Iger has said the company is leaning into its ad-supported streaming option to get to profitability.
Netflix launched the ad tier late last year. Similar to its recent crackdown on password sharing, the plan was introduced after Netflix saw subscriber growth stagnate and looked to other options to boost revenue.
In May, Netflix told advertisers it had five million monthly active users for the ad tier, and 25% of new customers were signing up for the plan where it’s available.
Netflix will report earnings after the bell Wednesday, and investors will be paying close attention to how the new sharing policy and ad-supported plan have affected subscriber additions and revenue. More

Carvana has reached a deal with noteholders to reduce the used car retailer’s total debt outstanding by more than $1.2 billion, the company said Wednesday.
The agreement was announced in conjunction with the company’s second-quarter earnings.
In a separate public filing Wednesday, the company said it will sell up to $1 billion in shares as it attempts to raise capital and restructure its operations.

A Carvana glass tower sits illuminated in Oak Brook, Illinois, Feb. 23, 2022.
Armando L. Sanchez | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Carvana has reached a debt restructuring agreement that will reduce the used car retailer’s total debt outstanding by more than $1.2 billion, the company said Wednesday.
Carvana said the agreement will eliminate over 83% of its 2025 and 2027 unsecured note maturities and lower its required cash interest expense by more than $430 million per year for the next two years.

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In a separate public filing Wednesday, the company said it will sell up to $1 billion in shares as it attempts to raise capital and restructure its operations.
Shares of the company jumped more than 30% in premarket trading Wednesday after being off roughly 7% before the announcement. Carvana stock this year has soared from roughly $4 per share to start the year to roughly $40 as of Tuesday’s close. That is still about 90% off from the stock’s all-time high of nearly $377 notched in August 2021. 
“This transaction significantly increases our financial flexibility by reducing our total debt, extending maturities, and lowering near-term cash interest expense as we continue to execute our plan of driving significant profitability and returning to growth,” Carvana CFO Mark Jenkins said in a statement.
Carvana said its restructuring agreement covered roughly $5.2 billion of senior, unsecured bonds and included Apollo Global Management, its largest bondholder. Under the terms of the deal, creditors will get new secured notes. The new debt will also come due later than the old notes.

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Carvana’s stock performance in 2023.

The company’s long-term debt to end the second quarter was $6.5 billion, slightly lower than nearly $6.6 billion to end last year.  That represented a majority of Carvana’s total liabilities of nearly $9.3 billion to end the second quarter, Carvana reported.

The company has been working on such a deal for more than a year as the stock went into freefall due to a heavy debt load and improper management during the coronavirus pandemic.
The agreement was announced in conjunction with the company’s second-quarter earnings. Here’s what Carvana reported.

Loss per share: 55 cents vs. an expected loss of $1.15 per share, according to average analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Revenue: $2.97 billion vs. $2.59 billion expected, according to Refinitiv.

The company reported a net loss of $105 million, or 55 cents per share. That’s an improvement from the net loss of $439 million, or $2.35 per share, it recorded in the year-ago period.
Revenue of $2.97 billion was down, however, from $3.88 billion a year ago.
The company’s total gross profit per unit, or GPU, which is closely watched by investors, was $6,520 during the second quarter, an increase of 94% compared with a year earlier and exceeding the company’s previous best quarter by 27%.
“Our strong execution has made the business fundamentally better, and combined with today’s agreement with noteholders that reduces our cash interest expense and total debt outstanding, gives us great confidence that we are on the right path to complete our three-step plan and return to growth,” Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia said in a statement.
Carvana reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $155 million compared with a loss of $216 million a year earlier.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the characterization of Carvana’s debt load prior to its restructuring deal. More

Medicare has proposed expanding its coverage of PET scans that are used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.
The proposal would abolish a nationwide policy that limited the scans to one per lifetime for people participating in clinical trials.
PET scans are used to detect amyloid protein on the brain that is associated with Alzheimer’s.
The proposal is a major shift in policy that could make it easier for patients to access new treatments such as Leqembi.

Jay Reinstein, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, sits on a bed after receiving a PET scan at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC on June 20, 2023. 
Michael Robinson Chávez | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Medicare plans to expand its coverage of PET scans that are used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a major shift in policy that could make it easier for patients to access new treatments that are entering the U.S. market.
The proposal would abolish Medicare’s current nationwide policy. Right now, the program for seniors will only cover one PET scan per lifetime for patients participating in clinical trials.

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The Medicare proposal would allow regional organizations, called Medicare Administrative Contractors, to decide whether to cover the diagnostic tool. These regional contractors make coverage decisions based on whether a services is “reasonable and necessary” for the diagnosis of an illness.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a statement Monday that the proposed policy “fulfils CMS’ commitment to allow broader coverage of this diagnostic test.” A final decision could come in 90 days, a CMS spokesperson said.
PET scans are a crucial diagnostic tool that detect an amyloid protein on the brain that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The scans are the most common method to help diagnose patients.
People on Medicare generally pay 20% of the cost of a PET scan after meeting their deductible. The cost of a single scan would come to about $313 per patient, according to one estimate in a May study published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Dr. Sean Tunis, former chief medical officer at CMS, said it is possible that the regional contractors could come up with different coverage decisions for PET scans. But these organizations generally work together on major issues and there isn’t reason to think their policies on PET scans would vary widely across the U.S., said Tunis, who is now a consultant at Rubix Health.

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Medicare coverage of PET scans should make it easier for patients to access new treatments such as Leqembi, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month.
Medicare has agreed to cover Eisai and Biogen’s Alzheimer’s treatment Leqembi, but it requires patients to be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease with documented evidence of amyloid on the brain.
Most patients opt for PET scans to confirm amyloid presence because the imaging is less invasive than alternative diagnostic tools such as spinal taps. Blood tests are also in development, with some already in limited use, but they have not been broadly rolled out yet.
Medicare has said it will also cover other Alzheimer’s antibody treatments with the same conditions if they receive approval from the FDA. Eli Lilly expects the FDA to make a decision on its treatment, donanemab, by the end of the year.
The Alzheimer’s Association, the lobbying group that advocates for people living with the disease, said the new policy proposed by Medicare would remove unnecessary barriers for patients. Maria Carrillo, the association’s chief scientific officer, called the decision a “major step forward.” More

The Lionel Messi signing is already providing a financial boost to Inter Miami.
Managing owner Jorge Mas said he expects revenues and his franchise value to double over the next year.
Messi jerseys and merchandise are experiencing tremendous demand as well by fans.

Major League Soccer’s hottest new star is already paying off for Inter Miami.
All-time soccer great Lionel Messi’s arrival is expected to double the club’s revenues over the next 12 months, its managing owner Jorge Mas told CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” The Argentina national and former Barcelona star joined Inter Miami on Monday.

Mas also said his team’s valuation could reach between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion in the next year. Forbes’ most recent estimate pegged Miami as MLS’ 11th most valuable team, worth $600 million.
“When we got into the project of Inter Miami, we really did it wanting to be the premier platform for football in the United States,” Mas said.

Supporters of Argentinian soccer player Leo Messi gather outside the Inter Miami DRV Pnk Stadium, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 11, 2023.
Marco Bello | Reuters

He said the process of bringing Messi to Miami began in 2019, when he and co-owner David Beckham flew to Barcelona to meet with Messi’s father.
“When does an athlete truly have the opportunity to change the sport, and I think that’s the opportunity that Messi has ahead of himself,” Mas said.
Mas said he is already seeing a tremendous “Messi effect” in all aspects commercially and in South Florida.

“It’s the only thing anyone talks about,” he added.
Messi jerseys are sold out and Adidas is printing them around the clock, Mas said.
Sports e-commerce platform Fanatics told CNBC that Messi could set a record for the most jerseys sold for a player joining a new team in any sport after 24 hours. Messi sales are on pace with the current first-day jersey sales record set by Cristiano Ronaldo immediately following his move to Manchester United in 2021.

Ticket prices for Messi’s Friday U.S. debut are averaging nearly $1,300 on secondary ticket platforms such as TicketIQ.
Mas said he hoped the buzz would help the MLS grow to compete with top-notch European leagues.
“I think that it’s incumbent upon myself and my partners in Major League Soccer and fellow owners to seize the moment that we have ahead of us to hopefully elevate Major League Soccer over the course of the next three to five years to compete with the Premier League,” Mas said. More

Johnson & Johnson sued the Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to slash drug prices, making it the third pharmaceutical company to challenge the controversial provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.  
The lawsuit filed in federal district court in New Jersey argues the Medicare negotiations violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Earlier suits brought separately by Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s largest lobbying group, made similar arguments.

Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket | Getty Images

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to slash drug prices, making it the third pharmaceutical company to challenge the controversial provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.  
The lawsuit filed in federal district court in New Jersey argues the Medicare negotiations violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Earlier suits brought separately by drugmakers Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s largest lobbying group, made similar arguments.
J&J’s complaint asks a judge to block the U.S. Health and Human Services Department from compelling the drugmaker to participate in the program.
The company said its suit aims to stop the “innovation-damaging congressional overreach that threatens the United States’ primacy in developing transformative therapies and in patients’ access to those treatments.”
President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022 by a narrow party-line vote, empowered Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time in the program’s six-decade history. 
The provision aims to make drugs more affordable for older Americans but will likely reduce pharmaceutical industry profits. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will publish a list of which drugs were selected for a first cycle of negotiations on Sept. 1, with prices taking effect in 2026. The companies that make those drugs face an October deadline to sign agreements to participate in those negotiations.
J&J said its patented drug Xarelto, which treats blood clots and reduces the risk of stroke, will be subject to price negotiations in 2023 because it is among the 10 most widely reimbursed drugs for Medicare Part D patients.
J&J argues that Medicare negotiations “inflict an uncompensated physical taking” of the company’s drug and essentially force J&J to provide access to Xarelto on terms set by the government that the company “would never voluntarily” agree to.
The company claims this violates Fifth Amendment protections against the government seizing private property without just compensation.
J&J last year booked $2.47 billion in revenue from Xarelto.
J&J also argues that the new provision forces the company to agree that the federal government is negotiating fair drug prices. That compels J&J to make “false and misleading statements” in violation of the First Amendment, according to the complaint.
The company believes the provision doesn’t involve true negotiations since the government “unilaterally dictates” drug prices. 
Real negotiation involves finding a way for both parties to freely agree on terms, J&J said.
“While the Government may choose to deceptively describe the Program as involving an ‘agreement’ to ‘negotiate’ a ‘fair’ price, it cannot force manufacturers to echo its misleading messaging,” J&J said in the complaint. 
HHS said in a statement it will “vigorously defend the President’s drug price negotiation law, which is already helping to lower health care costs for seniors and people with disabilities.”
“The law is on our side,” the agency added, reiterating previous remarks made by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. More

IN 2011 TESLA stated an aim of becoming “the most compelling car company of the 21st century, while accelerating the world’s transition to electric vehicles”. At the time this was easy to dismiss as crackers. In the eight years since its founding in 2003 it had manufactured a piddling 1,650 EVs. Its first big-selling car, the Model S, had yet to hit the road. Today it is almost as mad to argue that Elon Musk, the carmaker’s boss since 2008, has not achieved that goal. His company, a rare insurgent in an industry with formidable barriers to entry, has grown at neck-snapping speed. In the first quarter of 2023 Tesla’s Model Y mini-SUV was the world’s bestselling car. In the second quarter it delivered a total of 466,000 cars, beating analysts’ forecasts (see chart 1). Mr Musk’s promise of 2m sales this year, up from 1.3m in 2022, no longer seems fanciful. On July 15th its first Cybertruck, an angular, retro-futuristic pickup, rolled off the production line. Tesla is about to publicly unveil an expansion plan for its German factory, where it wants to double capacity to 1m vehicles per year. Besides almost single-handedly reimagining the car, Mr Musk has done the same to the car industry. His focus on streamlined manufacturing of only a handful of models has kept costs at bay. Last year Tesla boasted operating margins of 17%; among non-niche carmakers only Porsche, which churns out fewer than 1m cars annually, matched its performance. Mr Musk’s ambition to dominate the auto business—making 20m cars a year by 2030, double the current output of today’s top manufacturer, Toyota, and creating the go-to self-driving system—certainly compels investors, who value Tesla at over $900bn. That is down from more than $1trn in early 2022 but still more than the next nine most valuable carmakers put together. Incumbents are scrambling to electrify their product ranges and to copy Mr Musk’s vertically integrated approach to production, while fending off a wave of EV newcomers, many of them Chinese, all trying to be the next Tesla.Yet the question now is whether Tesla can keep growing as fast and as profitably as it has. On July 19th it is expected to report margins of around 12%, roughly what it eked out in the first three months of the year, as it slashed prices in order to compete with cheaper rivals (see chart 2). Its advantages as a disruptive tech firm with a Silicon Valley mindset are in danger of being eroded. To make even 5m-6m cars a year this decade, a more realistic target than Mr Musk’s goal of 20m, would require “embracing the techniques of legacy auto”, observes Dan Levy of Barclays, a bank. In order to remain a disruptive force, Tesla may, paradoxically, need to become a bit more like the stodgy car business it has disrupted.Off the marqueTesla maintains a lead over its more established rivals in batteries, software and manufacturing productivity, notes Philippe Houchois of Jefferies, an investment bank. But competitors are catching up. In some areas, like marketing and product planning, they have overtaken it, notes Mr Houchois. When it launched the Model S—large and pricey with big batteries and a long range—it had the EV market largely to itself. Nowadays motorists can choose between 500 or so EV models from dozens of marques. Bernstein, a broker, estimates that around 220 new models may be launched this year and another 180 in 2024 (chart 3). For Tesla to grow fast in the face of all this competition will be difficult.Unlike incumbent carmakers’ “something for everybody” approach, Tesla manufactures just five models (if you count the Cybertruck) and relies heavily on two of them. The Model 3, a small saloon, and the Model Y account for 95% of the vehicles Tesla shifts. By comparison, Toyota’s two bestsellers, Corolla and RAV4, make up just 18% of the vehicles sold by the Japanese firm. For Tesla to hit its target of selling a combined 3m-4m Model 3s and Model Ys, each model would need to control 50% of the cars in its class ($40,000-60,000 mass-market cars and $45,000-65,000 SUVs, respectively). According to Bernstein, no carmaker has ever had more than 10% in those two segments. And both models are ageing. The Model Y is three years old and the Model 3 has just turned six, which makes them less desirable in a business where novelty has historically counted for a lot. Carmaking’s rule of thumb to keep sales chugging along is to refresh models every two to four years and redesign them completely every four to seven years. Tesla’s planned “refresh” of the Model 3’s styling and its tech innards this year looks late by industry standards. The company will need to go well beyond its current strategy of offering frequent software updates that improve some of its cars’ features or add new ones. That may have done the trick for its original customer base of early-adopter techies but is unlikely to cut it with the average motorist. One solution is to offer more options for its existing range. Barclays estimates that the Model 3 comes in 180 configurations, compared with 195,000 for a comparable (petrol-powered) BMW 3 Series saloon. But that would introduce the sort of complexity that Mr Musk has hitherto shunned. Another route to higher sales is to launch new models, like the Cybertruck, or a low-cost mass-market vehicle—unofficially called the “Model 2” and with prices starting at $25,000—which Mr Musk has promised to start selling in the next couple of years. But new models come with new challenges. The relevant pickup market, with global sales of 1.3m, according to Bernstein, is relatively modest—and the Cybertruck’s bold styling may limit its appeal. And though low-cost Teslas could expand the company’s market beyond America, China and Europe, they will almost certainly generate lower margins, depressing the company’s overall profitability. Moreover, granting regional ventures greater autonomy to manage regional differences in taste, as established carmakers have long done, again adds complexity and costs. Mr Musk may be unable to avoid other expensive industry practices. One is marketing. In contrast to all other big carmakers, which are thought to spend princely sums on ads, Tesla has depended on word-of-mouth and Mr Musk’s own larger-than-life persona to promote its products. Barclays reckons that eschewing ads and, by selling directly to buyers, bypassing dealers, currently saves the company $2,500-4,000 for every car it sells. As it seeks new customers, and as Mr Musk sullies his personal brand with his polarising stewardship of Twitter, his $44bn side-project, Tesla is likely to forgo some of those savings. Mr Musk has conceded as much, saying that, for the first time, his company might “try a little advertising”. Another carmaking staple to which Tesla has belatedly come around is price cuts. Mr Musk had pledged never to offer discounts or allow inventory to build up. His company has lately done both. Production exceeded sales in the past five quarters. After growing at an average annual rate of 60% for years, quarterly sales volumes expanded by an average of only 30-40% between the second quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. To shift more vehicles Mr Musk began slashing prices late last year, by up to 25% on some models. Sales duly ballooned, by more than 80% in the second quarter, compared with a year ago. The flipside was that margins duly contracted. Investors have tolerated Mr Musk’s price cuts more than in the case of his rivals: on July 17th Ford’s share price fell by 6% after the Detroit giant announced hefty discounts on its F-150 pickup. But they may not stay so forgiving for ever.As its various costs rise, Tesla will try to keep cutting them elsewhere, notably in manufacturing. In March it unveiled what it called the “unboxed process”, designed to make cars “significantly simpler and more affordable” by streamlining or even eliminating stages of the production process. It is unclear what exactly he has in mind. Despite his record of engineering ingenuity, at least one previous attempt to up-end car manufacturing, by replacing people with robots for the Model 3, led to what Mr Musk himself described as “production hell” and near-bankruptcy in 2018. Mr Musk’s last new challenge—another one he shares with incumbent Western carmakers—is China. Tesla, which makes more than half its cars at its factory in Shanghai, no longer seems to hold its privileged position in the country. It was allowed to set up without the Chinese joint-venture partner required of other foreign carmakers, at a time when China needed Mr Musk to supply EVs for Chinese motorists and, importantly, to encourage the country’s own EV industry to raise its game. That has worked too well. Tesla is thought to have sold 155,000 cars in China in the second quarter, 13% more than in the previous three months. But China Merchants Bank International Securities, an investment firm, reckons its market share may have slipped below 14%, from 16% in the preceding quarter, as buyers switched to fast-improving home-grown brands. In a sign that Tesla now needs China more than China needs Tesla, the company was obliged to sign a pledge on July 6th with other car firms to stop its price war and compete fairly in line with “core socialist values”. Tu Le of Sino Auto Insights, a consultancy, recounts rumours that the authorities are pushing back against Tesla’s efforts to increase manufacturing capacity in China. And that is before getting into the increasingly fraught geopolitics of Sino-American commerce.If Tesla is to sell 6m cars a year at an operating margin of 14% by 2030, which Mr Levy of Barclays thinks possible, it probably needs to avoid at least some of these pitfalls. It would be foolish to dismiss that eventuality, given Tesla’s knack for confounding sceptics. It could, for example, offset part of the decline in sales growth with new revenue streams, such as recent deals to open its charging network to Ford and General Motors customers. As brands become defined by the digitally intermediated experience of driving rather than the body shell or handling, its superior software—including, one day, self-driving systems—may allow it to keep offering fewer models than its rivals. Mr Le thinks Tesla will mitigate the China risk by manufacturing more of its cars in Germany and other countries, including low-cost ones. Tesla has been by far the most compelling car company of the early 21st century. If it is to hold on to that title, it has its work cut out. ■ More

About 75% of the 2.7 million people who have lost Medicaid coverage across 32 states and Washington, D.C., were booted from the program because they did not complete the process to renew their coverage.
This means many of these individual may have lost their insurance despite still being eligible for Medicaid.
States are checking people’s eligibility for Medicaid for the first time in two years after protections put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic expired in April.

Supporters hold up Save Medicaid signs during the Senate Democrats’ news conference at the Capitol with disability advocates to oppose the Republicans’ Graham-Cassidy health-care bill.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Nearly three million people have been kicked off Medicaid since Covid-19 pandemic protections expired in April, with three-quarters of those individuals losing coverage despite the fact they may still be eligible for the public health insurance program, according to data from health researcher KFF.
Medicaid is the public health insurance program for lower-income individuals and families. It is heavily financed by the federal government but largely managed by state governments.

The widespread removal of coverage is a worrying trend because people who lose one form of insurance often struggle to find alternative coverage due to the complexity of the U.S. health insurance system, putting them at risk of ultimately becoming uninsured.
About 75% of the 2.7 million people who have lost Medicaid coverage across 32 states and Washington, D.C., were booted from the program because they did not complete the process to renew their coverage, according to the the most recent data, which was published Monday.
That means their insurance may have been terminated even though they are still eligible for Medicaid.
Texas and Florida account for the largest shares of people kicked off Medicaid in recent months. Half a million people have lost their coverage in Texas, 81% of whom had their insurance terminated because they did not complete the renewal process. In Florida, 300,000 people lost coverage, 65% of whom did not complete the paperwork.
The number of people who have lost Medicaid coverage will only increase this month as another 11 states start the renewal process for the first time in two years, including large states such as California and New York.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that as many as 15 million people could lose coverage when everything is said and done, though many of these individuals are expected to transition to alternative insurance.
Still, nearly seven million people might lose Medicaid coverage even though they remain eligible for the program, according to HHS.

Red tape

Congress barred states from kicking people off Medicaid during the Covid-19 public health emergency in exchange for a boost in funding. As a result, Medicaid enrollment surged to a historic high of more than 86 million people by March 2023, a 26% increase compared with February 2020, according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
These Medicaid coverage protections expired in April after lawmakers slipped a provision into federal spending legislation in December that allowed states to start kicking people out of the program if they were no longer eligible. Medicaid eligibility is largely based on income.
But many people are losing coverage simply due to bureaucratic red tape. This often happens when the state has outdated contact information and cannot reach the person. In other cases, a person might not understand how the renewal process works or fail to submit paperwork by the deadline.
It is particularly difficult for people with limited English proficiency to complete the paperwork to renew their Medicaid coverage, said Jennifer Tolbert, an expert on Medicaid and the uninsured at KFF.

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HHS estimated last year that a third of those at risk of losing Medicaid are Hispanic and 15% are Black. The current data coming out of most states is not broken out by demographic groups.
Children are also losing Medicaid coverage in large numbers. At least a quarter of a million kids have been disenrolled from Medicaid in Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia and Washington state, according to KFF. The total number nationwide is likely higher because many states are not providing information on how many children are losing coverage.

Alternative coverage

Health experts worry that people, even those who truly are no longer eligible for Medicaid, due to a change of income, for example, may not transition to another insurer or coverage under the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare. People have to apply for Obamacare annually, and some individuals might not be aware of how the process works.
HHS has opened a special enrollment period to help people who have been kicked off Medicaid find alternative coverage through Obamacare.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a June letter to U.S. governors that he was deeply concerned about the number of people unnecessarily losing their Medicaid coverage.
Becerra called on the governors to do everything they can to ensure people do not lose coverage for avoidable reasons. The number of people who have lost Medicaid has more than doubled since Becerra sent that letter.
HHS has the authority to stop states from terminating people’s Medicaid coverage if the agency determines that local authorities are not making a good effort to confirm individuals’ eligibility. CNBC has reached out to HHS for comment on the latest data.
Tolbert said limited data from a handful of states indicates that the number of people transitioning to other forms of insurance appears small, though she said this could change as more information comes in.
The uninsured rate in the U.S. will likely increase if people struggle to return to Medicaid or are unable to smoothly transition to other insurance such as Obamacare, Tolbert said. More

Retailers and brands are trying to cash in on the Barbie buzz, as higher grocery prices and a shift toward services hurts sales of discretionary merchandise.
Macy’s-owned Bloomingdale’s, Gap, Aldo and Crocs are some of the companies with deals with Mattel to create and sell Barbie-themed clothing, shoes and more.
Companies are also thinking beyond Barbie by chasing new and different merchandise that gets shoppers to spend.

Bloomingdale’s is just one of the retailers and brands trying to tap into Barbie buzz. It has a pop-up with exclusive Barbie-inspired apparel and accessories, along with a life-sized Barbie box where shoppers can strike a pose.
Bloomingdale’s

NEW YORK CITY — In the middle of Manhattan, shoppers can step inside of a life-sized Barbie box, strike a pose by a hot pink slide and browse earrings, dresses and candles inspired by the iconic plastic doll.
The pop-up shop inside Bloomingdale’s flagship store is just one example of how retailers are trying to cash in on the buzz ahead of the Friday release of “Barbie” from Warner Bros.

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More than 100 brands, including Bloomingdale’s, Kohl’s, Crocs and Gap, have licensing agreements or other deals with toy maker Mattel to sell Barbie-themed fashion, beauty, accessories and more. Many of those items cater to adults who want to channel childhood memories by donning bright pink heels or lounging on a pool floatie that looks it came out of a Barbie dreamhouse.
Bloomingdale’s has an exclusive collection of Barbie-inspired women’s clothing and accessories for its private label, Aqua. It also hopes to draw shoppers with Barbie-themed window displays on Lexington Ave., special events and complimentary hair styling.
With a splash of hot pink, retailers hope to chase away the summer doldrums and inflation blues. The Barbie merchandise, while hatched months ago in the lead up to the movie, speaks to how retailers have had to work harder and get creative to catch shoppers’ attention and convince them to pay full price. Companies including Bloomingdale’s parent Macy’s, big-box retailer Target and Coach parent Tapestry have warned of weaker sales of discretionary merchandise and big-ticket items in the U.S., as consumers pay more for groceries and spend on services like dining out and traveling.
Plus, millions of Americans have another expense returning this fall: Student loan payments are resuming after a more than three year pandemic-related pause.

Aldo Chief Brand and Product Officer Daianara Grullon Amalfitano said some sparkle and hot pink could help snap shoppers out of a practical, budget-focused mindset.

“This Barbie Aldo collaboration is one of those where maybe that rational thinking just goes out the window and you’re just like, ‘Ah, this makes me feel so happy. So good. I have to have it,'” she said.
About half of Aldo’s Barbie collection sold out in the first week. The company said it’s working on replenishing inventory for the limited-edition collection, which includes 19 items from crossbody bags to pumps.
About half of Aldo’s 317 North American stores carry the line, along with its website. The Aldo products are also available at select Macy’s stores and on Macy’s website.

Aldo has a collection of Barbie shoes and handbags. Some of the items, such as its Barbie platform sandals, sold out within 24 hours, the company said.

Macy’s higher-end department store, Bloomingdale’s, carries the Barbie the Movie x Aqua line in nine stores and online, and mixed in merchandise from other brands. So far, the Barbie merchandise is “selling incredibly well” and appealing to customers across generations, said Frank Berman, the department store’s chief marketing officer.
Berman said the retailer intentionally included items across price points in the Barbie-inspired collection, from a $24 pink candle to rose gold heart stud earrings for $8,350.
“We have a few things that are a little over the top, but it’s curated so that everybody can can have a piece of it,” he said.
Many items in Gap’s Barbie collection have sold out. They include rectangular hot pink adult sunglasses and a T-shirt with Ken in big capital pink letters, both $39.95.

Gap has sold out of some of its popular Barbie items, including rectangular pink sunglasses. Its pink denim jacket is also a top performer across its stores and website.

Barbie to the rescue?

Barbie may not just jolt a sluggish 2023 box office. The buzz could also lift spending on nonessential items that has dropped after a Covid spending spree.
Retailers will likely have to keep offering unique and trendy merchandise to get shoppers to shell out on wants rather than needs as they gear up for the all-important holiday season.
Discretionary general merchandise sales fell by 4% in dollars in June compared with the year-ago period, according to market researcher Circana, the merged company formerly known as The NPD Group and IRI. Unit sales in the category fell by 9% during that timeframe.
Last week, Amazon, Walmart, Target and others drove sales by offering deeper discounts with Amazon Prime Day and other competing promotions. Consumers spent $12.7 billion during the two-day sales event online in the U.S., representing 6.1% growth year-over-year and marking a new record, according to Adobe Analytics.
Barbie cut through as a popular search item last week. It jumped from 85th to 49th on the list of top brands this Prime Day versus last year, according to early data from Numerator. The top Barbie item sold during the sales event was lead actress Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” collectible doll.
As Americans look for deals, Barbie is just one of the ways that retailers are persuading them to look beyond the essentials.

Oliver Chen, a retail analyst for Cowen, said brands have capitalized on trends like the shift toward looser-fitting denim, the return to dressier and more tailored outfits for occasions and the heightened interest in innovative makeup and skincare products.
“Every brand loves newness because newness creates desire,” said Chen.
Barbie is “another floating life jacket” that retailers can grab onto, said Susan Fournier, a professor of marketing and dean of Boston University’s business school. The brand has built-in recognition, nostalgia that resonates across generations and baked-in free marketing because of the movie.
Unlike other movie-themed merchandise, Barbie isn’t just a logo that can get plastered on T-shirts and backpacks, but an aesthetic that cuts across home goods, makeup and clothing and channels an optimism that many shoppers may crave, she said.
“We’re in a pretty messy world,” she said. “We’re in the post-Covid world, which has a ton of baggage. There’s a ton of anxiety. And then you get Barbie and it’s all pink. And I think there’s something super deep about a hunger for that.”
She said some of the brand’s power comes from its complicated legacy. Barbie is closely linked with perfection, with her tiny waist, beautiful home and handsome boyfriend. Yet Barbie was also unmarried and became an astronaut before the first moon landing.
“There is something culturally powerful about living in that contradictory space,” Fournier said.

Inside of Bloomingdale’s pop-up shop in New York City, shoppers can find an exclusive Barbie collection of clothing and accessories from private label Aqua. The retailer’s website and nine stores carry the collection.
Bloomingdale’s

Chasing the Barbie bump and beyond

Other retailers have run a similar playbook with branding inspired by pop culture.
Tapestry-owned Coach has collaborated with beloved brands and celebrities, including Disney and comic strip Peanuts. It had a collection of clothing and accessories inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the late New York artist who became famous in the 1980s for his edgy and graffiti-inspired designs. It recently launched a new collection with actress Kirsten Dunst.
Coach CEO Todd Kahn said the company carefully chooses which partnerships make sense. He said he has enjoyed seeing other brands’ Barbie collaborations, but Coach decided against a partnership.
“So often people use collaborations for a quick spike,” he said. “We’re interested in long-term sustainability. That’s why with our collaborations we’ve become very selective on them. We use them to help bring a new audience to the table. And then we measure how sticky they are afterwards, which is super important.”
For example, he said, Coach’s Basquiat items attracted new and more engaged customers, brought in about 10% more Gen Z and millennial customers than its mainline collections and enticed them to pay some of Coach’s highest price points.
Some brands appear to be getting a Barbie bump — but it remains to be seen whether those customers will stick around.
Berman, Bloomingdale’s longtime chief marketing officer, said the chain sees an increase in store and website traffic when it has collaborations. That’s why the company’s flagship has “The Carousel,” a dedicated pop-up space, which can also be shopped online.
The retailer has blended fashion, a well-recognized brand and a memorable experience many times before. It had a pop-up inspired by Netflix’s hit series, “Bridgerton.” Many years ago, it had a “Moulin Rouge”-themed pop-up, complete with can-can dancers and an appearance by the movie’s star, Nicole Kidman.
Aldo’s Amalfitano declined to share recent sales numbers or its forecast for the year. Yet like other retailers, the footwear and accessories brand has felt the pullback in discretionary spending, she said.
She hopes elevated sales and shopper engagement will continue, even when the Barbie merchandise is gone.
“That’s a burning question,” she said.
— CNBC’s Caitlin Freda and Courtney Reagan contributed to this report. More