The Daily Money: Walmart backpedals on healthcare

Good morning! It's Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money.

For rural and lower-income Americans, staying healthy will become more time-consuming, with longer drives and wait times for doctors, following Walmart's decision last month to exit the primary care business, Medora Lee reports.

Walmart announced on April 30 that it would close all 51 Walmart Health centers in five states and shut down its virtual health care service because it was “not a sustainable business model.”

The move marked a sudden shift for the giant retailer, which had said the previous month that it planned to expand its virtual 24/7 health care – which includes video, chat and calls – and its brick-and-mortar health centers.

For more on who's most affected by the cuts and what they will do, read the story.

Apple Store workers vote to authorize strike

The U.S. could see its first Apple Store strike after employees in a Baltimore suburb voted in favor of authorizing a work stoppage over the weekend, Bailey Schulz reports.

The vote was held by employees of an Apple retail store in Towson, Maryland, the first U.S. Apple retail store to unionize in June of 2022. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE), which represents about 100 Apple employees at the store, has not yet announced a date for the potential strike. 

Why are Apple workers ready to strike?

📰 More stories you shouldn't miss 📰

• Where are millennials settling down?
• Why aren't companies doing more on child care?
• 401(k) or IRA?
• Tricks to maximize Social Security benefits.

📰 A great read 📰

Finally, here's a popular story from earlier this year that you may have missed. Read it! Share it!

After easing substantially in 2023, U.S. inflation has remained stubbornly elevated this year, creeping more slowly toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal.  

But some states are already there, while others will still be struggling to reach the benchmark even after the nation effectively has declared its mission accomplished, Paul Davidson reports.

Florida is saddled with the nation’s highest inflation, at about 4%, while Pennsylvania has the lowest, at about 1.8%, according to an analysis of index data by Moody’s Analytics.

Where does your state rank?

About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from USA TODAY. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.