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On Tuesday, the Senate narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” with a 50-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie, to get the legislation across the finish line after an all-night session. The bill now goes back to the House of Representatives for a final vote, as the GOP races to finish passage of the bill before the upcoming July 4 holiday weekend. Tucked away among the 940 pages of the massive bill are an array of new tax write-offs. Many of the exemptions are promises Trump made on the campaign trail when he was running for a second term. One of them, which was first introduced to the Senate in January as the No Tax on Tips Act, gives taxpayers the ability to write off income from tips and overtime pay. But here is a catch: the rule expires at the end of 2028, right before Trump leaves office. On June 16, 2025, the Senate Finance Committee released legislative text on this intended for inclusion in the Senates version of the budget reconciliation bill. The legislation gives eligible employees making up to $160,000 in 2025 an economic break (the limit will be adjusted each year for inflation). It creates new tax deductions of up to $25,000 on income made from tips, limited to cash tips, and on tips that workers report to employers for the purposes of withholding payroll taxes. It also expands the business tax credit for the portion of payroll taxes that an employer pays on certain tips, to include payroll taxes paid on tips received in connection with certain beauty services. Bill could create changes to W-2 reporting When it comes to overtime, the current legislation would require that employers specify on W-2 forms how much overtime an employee received during a given tax year, using a 1040 Form, with reporting starting as early as the 2025 tax year. The overtime deduction would be available to eligible taxpayers, regardless of whether they itemize. However, in order to claim the deduction, one would have to provide their Social Security number on their 1040 form, or that of their spouse when joint filing.
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Workers in about 15 locations nationwide are about to receive a boost in their paychecks, thanks to minimum wage increases that went into effect this week around the country. On Tuesday, July 1, minimum wage increases went into effect in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington D.C. Additionally, 12 cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, are doing the same.The minimum wage hasn’t changed on a federal level since 2009. It remains stuck at $7.25. However, local governments have been moving the needle over the years, which is good news for workers, given the cost of living is at an all-time high. Previously, on January 1, 21 states increased their minimum wage, impacting some 9.2 million workers. The July 1 wage increase isn’t quite so far-reaching, but it will still impact more than 880,000 workers, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute. Per the report, the wage bump will collectively raise those workers’ earnings by around $397 million. Washington, D.C., increased its minimum wage to $17.95, from $17.50. And statewide, Oregon went from $14.70 to $15.05, and Alaska, from $11.91 to $13. In other areas of the country, changes vary depending on the city or county. And in some states, the minimum wage is set to increase little by little. In Alaska, which just upped its rate by $1.09 (from $11.91 to $13), it will increase until it reaches $15 in 2027. Some wage increases depend on the size of companies, too. In Maryland’s Montgomery County, employers with 10 or fewer employees now have to pay them $15.50 an hour, up from $15. If companies have 11 to 50 employees, the rate is $16, up from $15.50. And if there are 51 or more employees, the rate is $17.65, up from $17.15. Another notable point is that some locations increased not only the minimum wage, but also the minimum wage for tipped workers (those who rely mostly on tips and a traditionally low hourly wage). In Chicago, the minimum wage went from $16.20 to $16.60. The rate for tipped workers went from $11.20 to $12.62. Currently, there are only a handful of locations with minimum wages over $20. The state of California pays fast-food workers $20 an hour, and Seattle has a minimum wage of $20.67. Now, the cities of Tukwila and Everett, Washington, have joined the over-$20-an-hour club. In Tukwila, employers with 15 to 500 workers will now pay minimum-wage employees an hourly rate of $21.10up a full dollar from $20.10. In Everett, employers with more than 500 employees will pay a minimum rate of $20.24, up from $16.66. For a full list, as well as to see other minimum wage increases set to hit in 2025, check out the National Employment Law Project’s “Raises From Coast to Coast in 2025” report. Find it here.
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The digital health market is growing, and according to Microsoft, its new AI Diagnostic Orchestrator (MAI-DxO) is among the latest in generative, artificial intelligence to support accurate, complex medical diagnosesand it’s doing it better than human doctors. According to the tech company, the new system acts as a virtual panel of diverse physicians that bridge the gap between needing multiple real-life general physicians and specialists in the search to be diagnosed. They call it medical superintelligence. In a report published on Monday, Microsoft claims the generative AI tool is around four times more accurate than a human physician when it comes to diagnosing complex issuesand that it does so at a lower cost. Increasingly, people are turning to digital tools for medical advice and support. Across Microsofts AI consumer products like Bing and Copilot, we see over 50 million health-related sessions every day, the report states. From a first-time knee-pain query to a late-night search for an urgent-care clinic, search engines and AI companions are quickly becoming the new front line in healthcare. How does it work? To avoid one-shot answers Microsoft says it focused on teaching the new system to make a sequential diagnosis, meaning the ability to address multiple, varying factors before providing a clear treatment plan. To do so, MAI-DxO was paired with OpenAIs 03 reasoning model for its ability to understand complex topics. Essentially this pairing creates an AI-generated panel of doctors that asks questions, orders medical testing, and provides a diagnosis with follow-up questions as needed. To test its efficiency in comparison to physicians, Microsoft applied MAI-DxO to 304 case records from the New England Journal of Medicine, and compared the systems diagnostic results to those of 21 human physicians from the U.S. and the U.K.Microsoft says that with MAI-DxO 85.5% of cases were solved accurately. Whereas, the real-life physicians solved the cases with a mean accuracy of 20%. Notably, the physicians were unable to access books, colleagues, or other AI tools during the studyall tools doctors would typically use in their practice. Additionally, Microsoft claims the tool lowers healthcare waste such as unnecessary care and overpayment of services. Essentially, speedlining the process that has left 15 million Americans in medical debt this past year. The future of AI-driven healthcare Although Microsoft presents its new tool on the cutting edge, it says additional testing is needed and limitations still exist. The AI orchestrator, while claimed to be great with complex health situations, needs work on the simple-healthcare front. Additionally, MAI-DxO is not currently approved for clinical trials, and will need to be before it can be used to diagnose real-life, medical situations. While AI is becoming a powerful tool in healthcare, our team of practicing clinicians believes AI represents a complement to doctors and other health professionals, Microsoft says. While this technology is advancing rapidly, their clinical roles are much broader than simply making a diagnosis. They need to navigate ambiguity and build trust with patients and their families in a way that AI isnt set up to do.
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