Cost of Part D drug plans to decrease

Medicare beneficiaries will see the average price of Part D drug plans drop next year, even as U.S. health costs continue to increase, officials say.

The average Part D plan will cost seniors about $30 a month in 2012, down from $30.76 in 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a release Friday.

"The Affordable Care Act is delivering on its promise of better healthcare for people with Medicare," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.

Under the Part D program, seniors and others on Medicare can join a privately administered, government-subsidized health plan for their drug prescriptions.

The decrease in average costs predicted for 2012 would mark the second time average premiums have gone down since the program started in 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Competition among private plans and the growing use of less expensive generic drugs have combined to make the program much less costly than budget analysts originally expected.

EU wind energy use to triple by 2020

The use of wind energy among EU members is expected to triple by the end of the decade, the European Wind Energy Association predicts.

The association said that Ireland, Denmark and Portugal will lead the European community in wind energy by 2020 with wind energy making up 52, 38 and 28 percent their energy production, respectively.

The EWEA said electricity production from wind will increase from about 5.5 percent of total European demand in 2010 to more than 15 percent of total demand by 2020.

EWEA Policy Director Justin Wilkes said in a statement that wind energy output should triple by 2020, largely driven by European efforts to reduce emissions and use more clean energy by the end of the decade.

"Wind power will not only make a very substantial contribution to meeting Europe's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," he said in a statement. "It strongly accelerates a shift away from expensive fossil fuels, creates jobs, makes Europe more competitive and provides secure and renewable power production in Europe."

The wind association adds that wind energy production by 2020 could be equivalent to all of the energy used by households in France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom combined.

Geithner likely to stay after strong pleas

Timothy Geithner is expected to stay on as U.S. Treasury Secretary through President Barack Obama's term after receiving White House pleas, officials said.

Geithner, who turns 50 Aug. 18, has not yet notified the White House of his intentions, and family considerations could still win out, advisers tell The New York Times.

Geithner -- the last remaining member of Obama's original team of economic advisers that shaped the president's response to the financial crisis -- said in early July he would consider resigning after a deal was reached to increase the nation's debt ceiling and reduce the federal deficit. Obama signed that deal into law Tuesday.

Obama and Chief of Staff William Daley have been urging Geithner to stay, in part because Obama has developed a close rapport with him, administration officials told the Times.

Obama and Daley also want continuity during the current tough economic times and to avoid an all-but-certain confirmation fight in the Senate over a successor, the newspaper said.

The former co-chairman of Obama's debt panel, Erskine Bowles, who was White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, is one of several candidates who were being considered if Geithner stepped down, officials said.

Other candidates included investment banker and former deputy treasury secretary under Clinton, Roger Altman, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, who previously served as a Geithner lieutenant, the officials said.

Geithner told ABC News Tuesday he hadn't decided whether he would leave.

"We've got a lot of challenges, the president's got a lot of challenges and, you know, I got other pressures on me too," he said.

Geithner's wife and son moved back to New York in June so their son could finish high school where he grew up.

Before moving to the Washington area, the Geithners lived in Larchmont, N.Y., north of New York City, when Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Geithner said privately last month he would not ask to leave without Obama's agreement.