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Millions of individuals and families across the U.S. are trapped in a vicious cycle. Financial concerns like inflation and housing costs are harming their mental health, and the rising cost of healthcareanother major concern for householdsis preventing them from getting the care they need. That makes all of their health problems worse, and the cycle keeps spinning faster and faster. That was the key insight from our recent survey on mental and financial health we conducted with Talker Research. About 70% of U.S. adults said their financial anxiety is at an all-time high, and 20% reported a decline in their mental health over the past year. If that weren’t alarming enough, roughly 30% of people said their mental health had been negatively impacted by the cost of healthcare, or by the difficulty of accessing healthcare for themselves or a loved one. Most discouraging, despite the evident need, only 14% of people were currently seeing a therapist or psychiatrist. The top reason people cited for not getting help? Affordability, by a wide margin. Mental health access barriers What is the biggest challenge preventing you from seeking professional care for mental health? Source: Included Health / Talker Research (2025) Costs are rising This tangle of financial anxiety, cost-related access barriers and deteriorating mental health are a crisis in the making for all of us. When people forgo needed care or medications due to costas 36% of Americans recently havetheir physical and mental health problems tend to get worse, which makes them more likely to end up in the emergency room or a hospital bed. This cycle is an especially acute problem in the commercial insurance market, which largely comprises employers providing health benefits to America’s workforce (158 million people). Thanks in part to surging hospital prices, per-capita healthcare spending has shot up faster in the commercial market than in Medicare or Medicaidand the cost trend is only getting steeper. Cumulative growth in per capita spending by insurance type since 2008 Source: KFF (2025) Employee benefits Rising costs are trickling down to individuals and families through higher premiums and copays, even though employers, to their credit, have absorbed most of the increases in recent years. In fact, in an effort to support their workforce and rein in costs, many employers have upped their investment in a wide range of health benefitsoften at little or no cost to employeesto close gaps in care and guide their people toward high-quality, cost-effective support. These benefits range from mental health apps, platforms for telehealth and chronic condition management, navigation services, and much, much more. While some of these offerings do help individuals get healthier and generate cost savings, it’s clear they haven’t done enough to reverse the broader affordability trend. How come? Engagement is one problem. Too few employees are aware of their benefits, enroll in them, or stick with them long enough to impact their health or financial outcomes. Employee engagement is always an uphill battle, and the lack of integration in healthcare only makes it harder. Mental, physical, and financial health can’t be addressed in isolation, as the recent survey findings show. But most tools and services arent connected, making it nearly impossible for individuals to experience a seamless journey that supports all of their healthcare needs. A bigger, related problem is the fee-for-service payment model. Engagement alonegetting people to use more serviceswont improve outcomes if the care isnt timely or high quality. In the commercial market, a shift toward value-based care and contracting is helping employers, employees, and healthcare partners align incentives to drive better clinical and financial results for everyone. What people really need, what theyre missing most, is personalized, all-in-one healthcare that provides integrated medical and mental health support, care coordination, benefits guidance, and help with billing and claims, all of it connected by empathetic humans who are looking out for the whole person. Mind, body, wallet. Taking care of any one of these dimensions of healthand bringing down costs for everyonerequires taking care of all three. Owen Tripp is cofounder and CEO of Included Health.
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E-Commerce
High Noon has recalled certain variety 12 packs due to a potentially serious labeling error. The packs include cans that were labeled as Celsius energy drinks but in fact contained vodka seltzer, according to a recall notice posted this week by the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are obviously quite a few problems with an energy drink containing vodka, the least of which being that most people would likely agree that these beverages are meant for different parts of the day. The recall applies to High Noon “Beach Variety” 12 packs shipped between July 21 and July 23, many of which contain cans that were labeled Celsius Astro Vibe energy drink, Sparkling Blue Razz edition. According to the FDA, consumers should check their individual Celsius cans to make sure they dont contain lot codes “L CCB 02JL25 2:55” to “L CCB 02JL25 3:11.” While the two brands are not owned by the same companyHigh Noon is owned by E. & J. Gallo and Celsius is owned by PepsiCothe mix-up happened at a packaging supply facility that works with both brands. The recall was initiated after High Noon discovered that a shared packaging supplier mistakenly shipped empty Celsius cans to High Noon,” the notice explains. The product was shipped to eight states: Florida Michigan New York Ohio Oklahoma South Carolina Virginia Wisconsin Reached for comment, a representative from E. & J. Gallo referred Fast Company to a press release and explained that the recall is limited to products from two production lots. However, the representative could not provide the exact number of impacted cases and cans. We are working with the FDA, retailers and distributors to proactively manage the recall to ensure the safety and well-being of our consumers,” E. & J. Gallo said in a statement. A representative for Celsius did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the FDA notice and the press release shared images of the impacted Celsius cans, which have silver lids as opposed to their normal black lids. While no illnesses or adverse events have been reported, High Noon is advising consumers to dispose of these specific 12 packs or mislabeled Celsius cans. For refunds and more information on next steps, customers can contact consumerrelations@highnoonvodka.com.
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E-Commerce
The United States will impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of Indias purchasing of Russian oil, President Donald Trump said Wednesday. India is our friend, Trump said on his Truth Social platform, but its tariffs on U.S. products are far too high. The Republican president added India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, enabling Moscow’s war in Ukraine. As a result, he intends to charge an additional penalty starting on Friday as part of the launch of his administrations revised tariffs on multiple countries. Trump told reporters on Wednesday the two countries were still in the middle of negotiations on trade despite the tariffs slated to begin in a few days. Were talking to India now,” the president said. “Well see what happens. The Indian government said Wednesday it’s studying the implications of Trump’s tariffs announcement. India and the U.S. have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months, and New Delhi remains committed to that objective, India’s Trade Ministry said in a statement. Trump’s view on tariffs Trump’s announcement comes after a slew of negotiated trade frameworks with the European Union, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia all of which he said would open markets for American goods while enabling the U.S. to raise tax rates on imports. The president views tariff revenues as a way to help offset the budget deficit increases tied to his recent income tax cuts and generate more domestic factory jobs. While Trump has effectively wielded tariffs as a cudgel to reset the terms of trade, the economic impact is uncertain as most economists expect a slowdown in U.S. growth and greater inflationary pressures as some of the costs of the taxes are passed along to domestic businesses and consumers. There’s also the possibility of more tariffs coming on trade partners with Russia as well as on pharmaceutical drugs and computer chips. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would announce the Russia-related tariff rates on India at a later date. Tariffs face European pushback Trump’s approach of putting a 15% tariff on America’s long-standing allies in the EU is also generating pushback, possibly causing European partners as well as Canada to seek alternatives to U.S. leadership on the world stage. French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday in the aftermath of the trade framework that Europe does not see itself sufficiently as a global power, saying in a cabinet meeting that negotiations with the U.S. will continue as the agreement gets formalized. To be free, you have to be feared, Macron said. We have not been feared enough. There is a greater urgency than ever to accelerate the European agenda for sovereignty and competitiveness. Seeking a deeper partnership with India Washington has long sought to develop a deeper partnership with New Delhi, which is seen as a bulwark against China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established a good working relationship with Trump, and the two leaders are likely to further boost cooperation between their countries. When Trump in February met with Modi, the U.S. president said that India would start buying American oil and natural gas. The new tariffs on India could complicate its goal of doubling bilateral trade with the U.S. to $500 billion by 2030. The two countries have had five rounds of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. While U.S. has been seeking greater market access and zero tariff on almost all its exports, India has expressed reservations on throwing open sectors such as agriculture and dairy, which employ a bulk of the countrys population for livelihood, Indian officials said. The Census Bureau reported that the U.S. ran a $45.8 billion trade imbalance in goods with India last year, meaning it imported more than it exported. At a population exceeding 1.4 billion people, India is the worlds largest country and a possible geopolitical counterbalance to China. India and Russia have close relations, and New Delhi has not supported Western sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. The new tariffs could put India at a disadvantage in the U.S. market relative to Vietnam, Bangladesh and, possibly, China, said Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. We are back to square one as Trump hasnt spelled out what the penalties would be in addition to the tariff, Sahai said. The demand for Indian goods is bound to be hit. Josh Boak and Rajesh Roy, Associated Press Associated Press writers Samuel Petrequin and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
If you read the typical 2025 mass layoff notice from a tech industry CEO, you might think that artificial intelligence cost workers their jobs. The reality is more complicated, with companies trying to signal to Wall Street that they’re making themselves more efficient as they prepare for broader changes wrought by AI. A new report Wednesday from career website Indeed says tech job postings in July were down 36% from their early 2020 levels, with AI one but not the most obvious factor in stalling a rebound. ChatGPTs debut in late 2022 also corresponded with the end of a pandemic-era hiring binge, making it hard to isolate AI’s role in the hiring doldrums that followed. Were kind of in this period where the tech job market is weak, but other areas of the job market have also cooled at a similar pace, said Brendon Bernard, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab. Tech job postings have actually evolved pretty similarly to the rest of the economy, including relative to job postings where there really isnt that much exposure to AI. The template for tech CEO layoff notices in 2025 includes an AI pivot That nuance is not always clear from the last six months of tech layoff emails, which often include a nod to AI in addition to expressions of sympathy. When he announced mass layoffs earlier this year, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach invited employees to consider the bigger picture: Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.” Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost explained that a need to shift resources to accelerate investments in AI was one of the reasons the company had to cut 1,350, or about 9%, of workers. The Why We’re Doing This section of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz’s announcement of 5% job cuts said the cybersecurity company needed to double down on AI investments to accelerate execution and efficiency. AI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster, Kurtz wrote. It’s not just U.S. companies. In India, tech giant Tata Consultancy Services recently characterized its 12,000 layoffs, or 2% of its workforce, as part of a shift to a Future-Ready organization that would be realigning its workforce and deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves. Even the Japanese parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor has cited an AI shift in its notice of 1,300 layoffs at the job search and workplace review sites. AI spending, not replacement, is a more common factor Microsoft, which is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, has announced layoffs of about 15,000 workers this year even as its profits have soared. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were weighing heavily on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era. Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially from tech giants that are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology. Its this sort of double-edged sword restructuring that I think a lot of tech giants are encountering in this age of AI, where they have to find the right balance between maintaining an appropriate headcount, but also allowing artificial intelligence to come to the forefront, said Bryan Hayes, a strategist at Zacks Investment Research. Google said last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon. The role of AI in job replacement is hard to track One thing is clear to Hayes: Microsoft’s job cuts improve its profit margin outlook for the 2026 fiscal year that started in July. But what these broader tech industry layoffs mean for the employment prospects of tech workers can be harder to gauge. Will AI replace some of these jobs? Absolutely, said Hayes. But its also going to create a lot of jobs. Employees that are able to leverage artificial intelligence and help the companies innovate, and create new products and services, are going to be the ones that are in high demand. He pointed to Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which is on a spree of offering lucrative packages to recruit elite AI scientists from competitors such as OpenAI. The reports published by Indeed on Wednesday show that AI specialists are faring better than standard software engineers, but even those jobs are not where they have been. Machine-learning engineers which is kind of the canonical AI job those job postings are still noticeably above where they were pre-pandemic, though theyve actually come down compared to their 2022 peak, said Bernard, the Indeed economist. Theyve also been impacted by the cyclical ups and downs of the sector. Economists are watching for AI’s effects on entry-level tech jobs Tech hiring has particularly plunged in AI hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Boston and Seattle, according to Indeed. But in looking more closely at which tech workers were least likely to get hired, Indeed found the deepest impact on entry-level jobs in the tech industry, with those with at least five years of experience faring better. The hiring declines were sharpest in entry-level tech industry jobs that involve marketing, administrative assistance and human resources, which all involve tasks that overlap with the strength of the latest generative AI tools that can help create documents and images. The plunge in tech hiring started before the new AI age, but the shifting experience requirements is something that happened a bit more recently, Bernard said. Matt O’Brien, AP technology writer
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E-Commerce
While tariffs were initially enacted to help promote domestic manufacturing, one particular industry is getting the short end of the stick: chocolate. Due to chocolate’s main ingredient, which is rarely grown in the country, US-based chocolate brands depend on cacao exports, and are now subjected to high import tarriffs. Just last month, the popular chocolate company Hershey’s announced a price increase for its products in an effort to offset rising production costs related to cacao. “[For years,] weve worked hard to absorb these costs and continue to make 75% of our product portfolio available to consumers for under $4, a Hershey representative told Fast Company at the time. The price increase followed the companies pursuit for a tariff exemption with Trump’s administration, estimating a tariff expense of upwards of $20 million in its second quarter. After speaking with 11 experts in the chocolate industry, Reuters found that tariffs are hurting American companies’s competitively amid rising costs of cacaoyet others and benefiting. Reaping the benefits Almost everyone loves chocolate, and its popularity continues to rise, with chocolate amounting to $21.4 billion in confectionery sales last year. As chocolate’s birthplace, Mexico does not rely on imported cacao, as its tropical weather can sustain the growth of beans. Due to its local harvest, Mexican brands can produce chocolate without paying for the Trump imposed 10-25% tariffs. Similarly, Canada benefits from a lack of tariffs, as it imports its cacao with zero additional duties, making production up north cheaper than in the U.S. Additionally, the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade pact (USMCA), the trade agreement that replaced NAFTA, chocolate imports from both Canada and Mexico are tariff free, regardless of cacao origin. American companies are required to pay taxes to import cacao, which cannot be nationally produced at scale, while Mexico can produce its own and Canada buys in without extra fees, setting American companies back. Still, as American companies continue to struggle, it seems a new trade deal might revert back tariffs and help those in the chocolate industry. On July 29, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that natural resources not found in the U.S. could be tariff exempt as soon as upcoming trade deals close. “If you grow something and we don’t grow it, that can come in for zero,” Lutnick told CNBC.
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E-Commerce
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