Author: openjargon

• Some Cybertruck owners are reporting issues they say occurred shortly after delivery.
• BI counted six owners online saying they've faced a "critical steering error" warning message.
• The issue appears to cause the EV to slow to a few miles per hour and flash a red warning screen.

Some Cybertruck owners are taking to the internet to report issues with their new Tesla pickup truck. Several say the issues started within days of receiving the vehicle.

Last week, Thomas Remo, known for his YouTube channel "Gear Down," shared a video of his Cybertruck appearing to break down just moments after it was delivered.

In the video, Remo has just started to drive the vehicle onto the road when the truck begins to beep and its infotainment system flashes red with the alert: "PULL OVER SAFELY Critical steering issue detected."

The warning message says the truck's system has detected a "high voltage system error" and service is required as the electric vehicle may not be able to restart, according to multiple pictures of the error screen posted online.

As the warning message flashes, Remo's truck appears to gradually slow to a few miles per hour.

"My foot is on the floor and it's not moving," Remo said in the video.

The YouTuber was able to reset the vehicle by turning it off and back on again, but said he experienced the issue four more times within 44 miles of driving it when he attempted to accelerate with the truck in "Beast Mode," a driving mode similar to the Ludicrous mode which allows a Tesla to accelerate faster.

The vehicle was eventually towed to a Tesla service center, Remo said in the video.

"This car — it just doesn't work," he said. "This car is a lemon."

According to a screenshot Remo shared online that he said showed the invoice from Tesla's service center, the company said the issue was the result of a low voltage harness that connects to the ancillary bay. The technicians replaced the ancillary bay and ancillary cover at no cost to the owner, according to the invoice.

Multiple owners have reported the same issue

At least five others who identified themselves as Cybertruck owners online have posted that they had seen the same warning screen. One Cybertruck owner on a Cybertruck owners forum said they'd seen the warning message, but had less success resetting the vehicle.

"It was great for 5 minutes.. tried everything, restarting, screen is stuck black and keeps beeping," they wrote on the forum. "Tesla really rushed these trucks out, what a nightmare."

Another owner said they'd kept driving the vehicle over time for about 2,000 miles and seen it happen "randomly."

"I just get out, lock the car, wait a few seconds, get back in and it usually works again," the owner said on the Cybertruck forum, adding that they sometimes have to repeat the process two to three times and are waiting for the parts to come in to fix it at a service center.

Tesla and Remo did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the Cybertruck owner's manual, the issue is not indicative of a steering problem.

"This alert indicates a possible issue with one of the multiple redundant sensors and actuators designed to make sure the steer-by-wire system always remains available while driving," the manual says.

The alert can be cleared by exiting and re-entering the truck, according to the manual.

"If you attempt this successfully, and no further alert messages display in the touchscreen indicating potential steering issues or inability to drive, continue to your destination," the manual reads. "If this alert occurs again during your next drive, or occurs multiple times over subsequent drives, it is recommended that you schedule service."

It's not the only issue Cybertruck owners are flagging online — owners have also pointed out issues with the ADAS system and charging. Since the truck's release last November, a Reddit forum dedicated to examples of the truck running into issues, r/Cyberstuck, has taken off, garnering 10,000 members.

It's unclear how many Cybertruck owners have experienced issues with the truck or what percentage the alleged issues represent overall. Many have shared positive experiences with the vehicle. In his first test of living with the truck, tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee said he was impressed by the vehicle.

"I think they really got themselves something solid here," Brownlee said at the time.

Cybertruck owners have also proven to be a resilient bunch. After some owners began spotting rust specks on the truck earlier this year, the owners told Business Insider they were unfazed by the issue. They were quick to find ways to tackle it — sharing hacks for cleaning the truck and purchasing wraps to protect the stainless steel exterior.

Do you work for Tesla, own one, or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com

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• The collapse of Ukraine's army cannot be ruled out, a US official told Bloomberg.
• Russia has been advancing on the battlefield in recent weeks.
• Ukraine's ammunition supplies and air defense capabilities are dwindling, say reports.

The possibility of Ukraine's army collapsing cannot be ruled out, an unnamed US official told Bloomberg.

The report said, citing talks with multiple officials, that Ukraine's position on the battlefield is at its most fragile moment since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022

Ukraine's war effort has been weakened in recent months by a severe shortage of ammunition, dipping morale among Ukrainian soldiers, and the impasse in Congress over US aid to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.

One major risk is a collapse of Ukraine's line of defense, which would allow Russia to make a major advance, Bloomberg said, citing an official speaking anonymously.

In recent weeks, building on its capture of Avdiivka, Russia has advanced incrementally in eastern Ukraine, claiming new territory and threatening the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Friday that the government would allocate a further Hr 3.88 billion (almost $100 million) to help reinforce fortifications, primarily in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, which sit near Russia's border.

However, The Wall Street Journal reported in March that although Ukrainian troops were building fortifications in preparation for an oncoming Russian offensive, there are fears that not enough progress is being made.

"What's happening right now is what Russia has spent a long time preparing for. It has gathered enough forces and resources to pressure various axes all at once," Maksym Zhorin, the deputy commander of the Third Assault Brigade, told the WSJ.

Meanwhile, Russia appears to have largely replaced its heavy battlefield losses, and at a much faster pace than anticipated, top US General Christopher Cavoli warned lawmakers on April 11.

"Russia is reconstituting that force far faster than our initial estimates suggested," Cavoli said in a statement to Congress. "The army is actually now larger — by 15 percent — than it was when it invaded Ukraine."

Ukraine's air defense capabilities are also showing vulnerabilities, as more Russian missiles and drones are hitting targets such as critical infrastructure facilities. The largest power plant delivering energy to Kyiv was destroyed Thursday raising concerns that Ukraine might be running out of surface-to-air missiles to counter Russian airstrikes, The Washington Post reported Friday.

"We need air defense systems and other defense assistance, not just turning a blind eye and having lengthy discussions," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

US aid to Ukraine

A new $60 billion US military aid has been held up in Congress since December due to opposition from some Republicans.

The White House has tried to keep at least some aid passing through, sending $300 million in additional weapons last month and an emergency $138 million for upgrades to a key missile defense system, HAWK, earlier this week.

"If Congress does not help Ukraine, then Ukraine will lose the war," Zelenskyy warned Sunday to a group of celebrity ambassadors.

Zelenskyy said last week he remained hopeful of a "positive vote" in Congress, and suggested that Kyiv would be willing to receive the aid as a loan rather than a handout, an idea originally put forward by Donald Trump.

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• I graduated from college a year ago and couldn't get a job, so I now live with my mom.
• My therapist told me I have post-graduation anxiety and depression.
• Im trying to see the bright side of this time in my life. 

I remember the day I graduated from college like it was yesterday. After five years of intense studying, I was thrilled to be done with the college phase of my life.

The graduation party with all my college friends was truly memorable. We were all so excited about the end of late-night reading. The atmosphere was electric, and everyone was having so much fun.

I was most excited about the prospect of independence. I was on the precipice of being able to live my life on my own terms — and I was truly optimistic about the future.

But a year has passed since graduation, and I'm now jobless, depressed, and confused about my future.

Post-grad life is nothing like I expected

I had always thought that my best life would begin after college, and I had no idea how unprepared I was for the reality of living in today's world.

I currently live at home with my mom; I had to move back in when I couldn't keep up with the bills since I was unemployed. In the last year, I seem to have lost touch with most of my college friends, and the few I've kept in touch with all seem to have their lives pretty figured out; they all seem to be starting new careers, traveling, or getting married.

I feel like some sheer cosmic force has left me behind. 

I was never known to get beat up about life; I was the positive, upbeat friend who always encouraged others to have a positive outlook. So, my new take on life has been particularly surprising to my family and friends, but it has been surprising to me most of all.

Most days, I ask: What went wrong? What did I not do right? Is it possible I missed a step, and maybe that is why I got left in the funk? But my questions are just that, and no one seems to have an answer.

Instead, I am stuck going through the motions of living without really living. In the time I have been back home, I haven't missed a family gathering nor stopped hanging out with my childhood friends, and to most of them, I seem to have it all figured out. I don't bother correcting this impression, but looks can be deceiving. I know I am going through life numb, yet I have no idea how to stop it.

My therapist gave me an interesting diagnosis

After discussing these issues with my therapist, she told me I have post-graduation anxiety and depression. She told me she sees this issue among many college graduates she works with, especially recently.

My therapist insists I find pleasure in doing the little things, but that is easier said than done. One day, I feel just fine and start thinking maybe this depression is finally over, and the next, I am back to where I began. My biggest fear has been: Will this feeling ever truly go away, or is this my new normal? I don't want it to be. 

But here is an unexpected twist: In the last year I've been home, I have learned so much about myself amid all my struggles. I have been able to answer questions like who I am and what I really want when I take away the expectations of others. I'm gradually realizing I have never had a time off where I had no achievement to attain.

For the first time, I am truly just living, which is not bad. Maybe my body has not been living but rather just moving to an auto-response, and maybe that's why I am releasing all the stored-up energy.

I may never truly know the answers to all these questions, but I know I have decided to live my life without an outline, taking it one day at a time and doing my best with what I have been given.

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• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Saturday edition! With the weather heating up, it's time to hose down your weathered furniture and spruce up your outdoor space. We asked gardeners and exterior designers how to make your outside feel as cozy as your inside.

Now let's get into a roundup of some of our top stories.

On the agenda:

• Italy launched its long-awaited digital nomad visas. Here's how to land one.

• Shhh! Half of all workers have a secret work crush.

• The Masters Tournament has created a new league of status-symbol merch.

• Ultra-processed foods are out. A nutritionist shares what he eats instead.

But first: Who needs homeownership?

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

The HGTV-ification of millennials

Millennials know just how hard it is to buy a home. From the home shortage to having higher debt compared to their parents during the same stage of life, it hasn't been easy.

But millennials, the eldest of the group being in their early 40s, aren't giving up. In fact, in 2022, homeownership for the cohort was above 50% for the first time, reports BI.

Still, while some millennials are spending seven figures buying and renovating their homes, others are giving up on homeownership completely. Instead, they're reprioritizing how they're spending their money and what they're choosing to invest in.

Brigette Muller told Business Insider she'd rather invest in her Brooklyn apartment. The 36-year-old spent $20,000 renovating her rental — and said she has no regrets.

"I just want to have a space that I feel good in," she said.

WFI (Work From Italy)

If you've ever considered fleeing the country to work as a digital nomad, now might be your chance.

Italy launched its digital nomad visa, a long-anticipated pass to live and work in the country. Non-EU or Swiss citizens can now apply for the visa, which lasts for one year.

See if you fit the requirements.

Your secret work crush

It's not just you — half of workers have an office crush. After all, we spend much of our waking lives at work, making it natural to develop feelings for the people around us.

And while they have the power to bring out some of our best work, they can also turn an enjoyable office experience into a soul-crushing one.

How the office spurs workplace attraction.

Masters merch feeding frenzy

The Masters Tournament, which started on Thursday, is the most exclusive event in golf. For those lucky enough to snag a ticket, merch is the way to show off that good fortune.

Items boasting the Masters logo — think hats, shirts, and even a garden gnome — have become elite status symbols.

Why Masters merch is so coveted.

Also read:

• Take a tour of Augusta National's gorgeous pro shop, the only place where you can buy official Masters merchandise

• The billionaire's social calendar: The must-attend events for the world's wealthiest business icons

Skip the ultra-processed foods

After learning about the potential health risks of ultra-processed foods, nutritionist Rob Hobson decided to eat as few of them as possible.

Before reducing his UPF consumption, Hobson would eat a whole wheat bagel with ham and avocado for lunch. He's since turned away from processed meats and stopped including bagels in his lunchtime routine.

Here's what his lunch looks like now.

What we're watching this weekend

• "Patti Stanger: The Matchmaker": The millionaire matchmaker is back and as unfiltered as ever.

• "Fallout": Check out Amazon's masterful adaptation of the beloved video game series.

• "The Sympathizer": Robert Downey Jr. plays multiple characters in HBO's show based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

• "Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion": HBO's newest documentary features reporting on the teen cult brand from BI reporter Kate Taylor.

See the full list.

More of this week's top reads:

• A couple stretched their vacation budget to include first-class plane tickets and a 12-night cruise.

• An 84-year-old shares the lifestyle changes he's made since getting fit at 75.

• How much it costs to live in Vienna, according to a woman who moved there.

• Gen Zers, take note: Some boomers have found a simple path to happiness.

• What it's like to win New York City's affordable housing lottery.

• I went to Dollywood for the first time. These seven things surprised me.

• Rich Americans who want a backup plan are getting second passports.

• The world's oldest man, 111, has three tips for a long, happy life.

• Booking.com is offering cheap vacation deals to Paris, Dubai, and more.

The Insider Today team: Joi-Marie McKenzie, editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

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• The Biden administration is subsidizing the semiconductor industry to boost US chip production.
• But the US doesn't have enough workers in the AI chip manufacturing sector.
• Universities can be a key place for recruiting new talent.

The US desperately needs more workers to build AI chips.

The semiconductor industry is responsible for building AI chips, but over the past two decades, the number of workers in American semiconductor manufacturing has dropped sharply, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That decline in workers corresponded with a decline in the US share of the global chip-making market. Between 1990 and 2020, the number of chips made in the United States fell by a third. In that same period, Taiwan, China, and South Korea's combined share grew by almost 60%, the Journal reported.

The United States is eager to control chip manufacturing as artificial intelligence becomes critical in national and international security. Since "general-purpose AI software, datasets, and algorithms are not effective targets for controls, the attention naturally falls on the computer hardware necessary to implement modern AI systems," Saif M. Khan and Alexander Mann wrote in a Center for Security and Emerging Technology report.

An edge in chip manufacturing would help the United States maintain global dominance. "Given the foundational nature of certain technologies, such as advanced logic and memory chips, we must maintain as large of a lead as possible," national security advisor Jake Sullivan said in a speech in 2022.

Chip manufacturing, however, is the industry's largest cost driver, according to a report from McKinsey & Company. And manufacturing in the United States has only become more expensive.

So the Biden administration is providing billions of dollars for semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development through the CHIPS and Science Act.

Leading chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is one company using those subsidies to expand production in Arizona.

But subsidies only help if there are workers to do the jobs. If the United States really wants to catch up in the race to make more chips, it will have to convince more workers to join the semiconductor industry.

Universities can be a fertile ground for recruiting that talent.

At Purdue University in Indiana, students are already excited about the buzz around AI and the skyrocketing valuations of US chipmakers like Nvidia.

About 100 Purdue students majoring in materials, mechanical, or electrical engineering have graduated with a concentration in semiconductors, while another 135 students are enrolled in certificate programs, the Journal reported. There's even an on-campus semiconductor club that drew 170 new members in two months.

Purdue is now partnering with South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix to build a $3.9 billion semiconductor complex in West Lafayette that will make AI memory chips, the Journal reported. Still, "one of the biggest challenges is getting students to fall in love with semiconductors," Nikhilesh Chawla, a professor of materials engineering who co-directs Purdue's semiconductor programs, told the Journal.

The good news is that experts also say that the industry's labor costs are likely to diminish in the coming years. Purdue's president, Mung Chiang, told the Journal that one area that may see a decrease in costs is packaging, which helps chips connect to other devices. Packaging has long been labor-intensive, but SK Hynix's plans for advanced packaging will help "rewrite the cost equation," Chiang told the Journal.

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• "Bluey" fans are worried the series could end with its third-season finale on Sunday.
• The "Bluey" brand is worth an estimated $2 billion but faces some challenges going forward.
• The kids TV show ranked among the most-watched streaming series in America last year.

Fans of the children's TV sensation "Bluey" fear their favorite show will end with the third season's finale this Sunday. There's a lot of money at stake and if the series does continue, it faces challenges down the line.

Winning hearts

"Bluey" is an Australian preschool show that stars a family of Australian Cattle Dogs or "Blue Heelers": Bluey, her younger sister Bingo, and their parents, Bandit and Chilli.

The show has become wildly popular in the US. It ranked as the top children's show in the country last year, and the second-most streamed series after Suits, per Nielsen data.

It has taken off among viewers because it's funny, appeals widely, and tackles real issues that many families face. Episodes focus on how children learn about the world through play, and how parents can join in the fun and help their kids navigate challenges while also dealing with their own issues.

"Bluey is relatable to both parents and kids and uses humor and realistic situations in its storytelling," Yalda Uhls, the founder and CEO of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA, told Business Insider.

"Sesame Street is similar in that parents don't mind watching that with young children."

The show's creator and writer is Joe Brumm, a father of two young girls. It's produced by Ludo Studio, its distributors include the commercial arm of Britain's BBC, and it's available on Disney Plus.

The latest episode centered on Bandit preparing Bluey and Bingo to move home, and concluded with the appearance of a foreboding "For Sale" sign on the lawn of their family home.

This weekend's season finale is titled "The Sign" and will be 28 minutes long, dwarfing the usual 7-minute episode length. The special's unusual size, game-changing subject matter, and the fact that a fourth season is yet to be announced have fueled concerns that this might be the show's end.

Making money and growing up

That's a big deal, not just for fans but also the business of "Bluey." One valuation expert told Bloomberg that the brand is worth an estimated $2 billion. Another source claimed Disney had explored acquiring the property.

Those behind "Bluey" have leveraged its immense popularity by licensing its characters. There's now endless amounts of merchandise — this father of a toddler already owns "Bluey" books and toys and has been eyeing a "Bluey"-themed doctor play set — if only he could trust the family dog not to chew the stethoscope.

If "Bluey" ceases playing on screens, a lot of money might be left on the table. Consider how Disney monetizes smash hits like "Frozen" by releasing sequels and spin-off TV shows, and by featuring characters like Elsa and Olaf across toys, books, clothing, video games, theme parks, cruises, and resorts.

But if "Bluey" lives on — which it almost certainly will in some form, given its huge popularity and relative youth as a franchise — it will have other hurdles to jump.

Capturing fresh viewers as existing ones move on is likely to be a big one.

"As with any show related to kids, the audience will grow up, and if it doesn't create storylines that hold the attention of a new audience, it may lose viewership," Uhls said.

The show's reliance on Brumm could also make it tricky to scale, and limit how much a buyer will pay for it. Too much success, too fast, might cause the show to lose its way too.

Whether Sunday's episode is a goodbye for now or a permanent send-off for "Bluey," it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

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• Google DeepMind launched a prototype AI soccer tactics tool last month.
• TacticAI suggests strategies for corner kicks, based on an analysis of over 7,000 set pieces.
• DeepMind developed the tool with Liverpool FC, known for its data-driven approach to soccer.

Google DeepMind is bidding to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into soccer by launching a new tool to help coaches make better tactical decisions.

The London-based lab unveiled a prototype of TacticAI in March, which it developed as part of a three-year collaboration with English Premier League soccer club Liverpool FC.

DeepMind researchers published their findings in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Soccer experts involved in the project believe that the AI system, trained on a dataset of more than 7,000 corner kicks from EPL matches, is already better than humans at designing plans for attacking and defending these set pieces.

"What's most exciting about [soccer] for me is that it's a game that lies in between art and science," Zhe Wang, one of Google DeepMind's leads on the TacticAI project, told Business Insider. "There's lots of randomness in a game, but we can still use data to make better decisions."

Corner kicks

Some of the most iconic goals in soccer's recent history have come from corners. 

Former Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba memorably headed in a last-gasp equalizer for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League Final from a corner, while Liverpool fans voted Divock Origi's strike from a "corner taken quickly," which knocked FC Barcelona out of the same competition in 2019, as the greatest goal in the club's history.

Petar Veličković, a coauthor on the DeepMind project, told BI that it made sense to train TacticAI on data taken from corners because they tend to lead to more structured passages of play.

Soccer is "super unpredictable," he said. "You can never really predict exactly what's going to happen. But what you can do is notice patterns in tactics. Corners are really good for that because they're rigid, frequent, and lead to goalscoring opportunities."

TacticAI can make suggestions to coaches about players' optimal positioning when attacking and defending corners, potentially giving their teams the sorts of marginal gains that tend to make big differences in competitive sports.

Liverpool link-up

DeepMind developed TacticAI with Liverpool, which has won plaudits from legendary "Moneyball" baseball executive Billy Beane.

Since being taken over by Boston Red Sox owners Fenway Sports Group in 2010, the club has hired several people whose CVs you wouldn't typically find in an EPL boardroom — including Ian Graham, who holds a doctorate in physics from Cambridge and who headed up Liverpool's research department until 2023.

Having that knowledge on hand helped the collaboration between DeepMind and Liverpool to run smoothly, according to Veličković.

"For the past 10 years or so, Liverpool have had people on their team with Ph.D.s from Cambridge and Harvard — these are people who are very engineering, data, and research-minded, and they've worked on using statistical analysis for a long time," he said. "So there was already a good, solid foundation we could build on with deep learning."

Liverpool's experts helped DeepMind to judge whether TacticAI's corner routines were effective, while the two organizations have also teamed up to produce a broader study about AI's role in soccer and a system for predicting players' off-camera movements in recent years.

AI and soccer

The release of TacticAI marks the end of that collaboration between DeepMind and Liverpool — but the researchers believe that executives at top-level clubs have only just started to realize that AI could play a transformative role in soccer.

Like corners, other set-piece events, including free-kicks, throw-ins, and penalties, offer up the sort of structured data that AI tends to thrive on and could be the next area that researchers in the field look into, they said.

Some purists worry that technological interventions like these might one day take some of the joy out of the so-called "Beautiful Game" — but the researchers emphasized that they've tried to create a tool that'll make coaches' lives easier rather than put them out of a job.

"We're not trying to replace human coaches. Instead, we want to help them make faster and better decisions to help them see patterns and find possible improvements through AI," Wang said.

"Ultimately, it'll still be the coaches who make the decisions," he added. "This is just a tool to help them make those decisions more comprehensively."

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• I get health insurance through my employer, but have still received large medical bills.
• I've learned a few ways to reduce charges, like checking a prescription against the bill.
• I also stayed on top of my insurance company for reimbursements. 

I became an accidental expert at investigating medical bills — and getting them reduced — during a few years of doctor's visits for a chronic condition. I get health insurance through my employer, but I was still being asked to pay dozens of large charges myself. Luckily, by doing three things, I didn't have to pay over $4,000 that I was going to be billed for.

Check the order from your physician against the services you were billed for

I recently received a $699 bill for a scan I hadn't been prescribed and didn't know I was receiving.

My doctor referred me to go for imaging, and to avoid any unwanted charges, I called my insurance ahead of time to make sure that the prescribed scan would be covered. They confirmed that the scan listed on the referral would be fully covered, and that the coverage would kick in before I met my deductible (which was great since it had just reset for the year).

Sure enough, my insurance portal showed that I owed $0 for the prescribed scan, but I was also being charged for a mysterious second service I didn't recognize. I called the provider, thinking I must have been charged by accident, but they informed me that the other test was a complementary study they always performed alongside the one I'd gone in for. The test took place simultaneously in the same machine, so I had no idea I was receiving it.

A look back at my doctor's referral confirmed that she'd only ordered one scan, so I decided to dispute the bill: I'd scheduled one service, submitted the proper referral for it, and confirmed coverage with my insurance.

Since I had that referral as proof of my doctor's order, the provider acknowledged the discrepancy, and the charge was reduced to zero.

Tip: Trying to compare referrals, bills, and insurance claims can be confusing when they all name services differently, so be sure to check the "CPT" billing code for each service.

Check whether you're being reimbursed properly by your insurance company

By staying on top of my insurance provider, I received $3,151.55 in reimbursement checks that likely never would have been paid if I hadn't followed up.

I was seeing a specialist who didn't accept insurance, but my policy allowed me to self-pay and submit claims for reimbursement. While I submitted the claims every month, I received reimbursement checks sporadically, covering anywhere from a few visits to several months of treatment. Plus, I had to keep emailing about the same unpaid claims until they were resolved, so my online insurance portal was full of duplicate claims and out-of-date information.

The key was to stay organized. I documented every claim I submitted, held on to all of the mail I received from the insurance company, and emailed when payments were missing. A handful of checks were paid without me having to follow up on them, but I'm glad I kept track of everything because I discovered thousands of dollars in payments that were accidentally mailed to the provider (who I'd already paid) instead of to me. It took three months of calls and emails to get them re-issued and sent to me.

Tip: To figure out which services have been reimbursed, pay attention to not only when you receive the checks, but the dates of service listed on your explanation of benefits. While I received some timely reimbursements, one January claim wasn't paid until July.

Confirm that your physician correctly billed your insurance

Before you pay a medical bill, make sure to confirm whether your insurance company was billed properly, even if you think your provider has all of your correct information.

I recently received a $455 bill for a routine physical. I'd found the doctor through my insurance portal and confirmed my insurance information with them before the visit, so I knew I was covered. When I called the billing department, they had the wrong insurance information on file. They'd sent the bill straight to me instead of submitting it to my insurance company.

Once I gave them my correct information, they processed the bill through insurance, and I was fully covered.

My final tip: Don't assume you're responsible for a payment just because you received a bill.

My initial reaction to large medical bills has often been embarrassment, thinking I must not have selected a good insurance policy or properly confirmed that my doctors or services were covered. I've had the urge to just pay a bill immediately, even if it seemed outrageous, so I could get it over with. However, by staying calm and asking questions, I've saved myself thousands of dollars.

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• Lonita Jensen, a retired nurse, said she moved to Ecuador because of high prices in the US.
• Jensen said her apartment in Ecuador would cost three times as much in her home state of Montana.
• Montana is among the western states where high housing costs are pricing out some locals.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with 71-year-old Lonita Jensen, a retired nurse who is from Montana but currently living in Ecuador. Business Insider has verified the rental prices. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in Billings, Montana. I was born and raised there. I never left Montana until I was in my thirties. I went to college in Bozeman.

My husband was in construction, and we ended up moving a lot when I was in my thirties. So I've lived in other places, but I keep coming back to Montana. But then the last time I tried to come back, the prices had just gone up so high.

I was a nurse, but I retired to become the nanny for my grandson in Dallas. I did that for three years, and then I couldn't survive down there. It was so expensive. So I checked Montana because my daughter lives there, and that wasn't going to work either because the rents were so high.

My sister had come down to Ecuador and she said, "Well, you can afford to live down here." So that's why I ended up here about four years ago.

I'm in a city called Cuenca at the base of the Andes. My kids all want me to come home to the US. I have six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter, and I would love to go back, but they all live in a place that I can't afford — Billings, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Dallas.

It is really sad. I'd like to be by my grandkids and my kids, and it's just not possible. 

Ecuador is beautiful and a lot cheaper

I would move back to Billings if I could. It's only 60 miles from Red Lodge, which is one of the entrances up over the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone.

In Cuenca, I pay $750 for three bedrooms, three and a half baths, and a private patio. Something Similar to this in Billings would be about $2,400 a month.

The climate is beautiful in Cuenca. It stays pretty much the same year round and we don't get snow, but I grew up in snow, so it's not like I can't handle it. 

People are very nice here. Fresh fruits and fresh vegetables are very cheap here. There's affordable healthcare here.

My sister was living here when I moved, so I met people through her. But if she wouldn't have been here, it would've been a whole lot scarier.

There's quite an expat community here and a lot of single women. Maybe they've had a loss of a spouse, which I have had, or they just didn't make as much money in the workforce, so they didn't have the resources to stay in the states because things have gotten so expensive. 

There's men here too. Most of them have pretty much the same story. They can't afford to live in the states anymore. 

Pretty places are getting too expensive to live

I tell my kids I couldn't come back to Montana or to Colorado or any of those places without going back to work full time. All I have is social security, and I'm almost 72. I can't bend over like I did for surgeries for hours on end like I used to.

The thing I miss most about Montana is the outdoors. The kids are all involved in sports and camping and fishing, and I grew up doing outdoor stuff all the time, camping and going to Yellowstone Park or Emerald Lake.

When I visit Colorado or Montana we always go fishing because I really miss being able to do that. We would catch fish all summer long and freeze them for the winter time, and people were always so friendly and so welcoming.

Ecuador is not home. It's my home for now. Who knows. We're never guaranteed of a tomorrow. My daughter-in-law says, "We're going to bring you home at some point." But I don't want to be a burden to my kids. They have their own kids and then my great granddaughter.

I love Montana. It will always be home. But any place that's pretty now is so expensive you can't live there.

I feel bad for the people that were born and raised in all these different places, even little towns in Montana or in Colorado. They've lived there their whole lives, and now everything has gotten so expensive.

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• Indeed's Nick Bunker said we're settling into a time of "a more boring labor market."
• Business Insider looked at how components of the labor market have settled down, like wage growth.
• Bunker said "Job seekers still have some bargaining power," but he added, "more employees are staying put."

If you just recently entered the labor force, you may be curious what happened to the sky-high job openings, the massive number of people quitting during the Great Resignation, and hot wage growth.

Well, the labor market is looking more like the healthy but boring era of 2018 or 2019, Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told Business Insider. That's opposed to the wild swings we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bunker said we're seeing less drama in jobs data.

"That's a good thing in my view," Bunker said, given "an incredibly dramatic" few years.

Job growth is still doing great though; the US just added 303,000 jobs in March, although that's a slower pace than during the height of the pandemic recovery.

Wage growth has slowed. The share of Americans working or looking for work has held mostly steady since spring 2023. Job openings have also dropped — and have been at a rate of 5.3% for three straight months. The number of layoffs and discharges have been low.

And that more boring but steady labor market could be great news for workers and job seekers. Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter's chief economist, told Business Insider the minimal changes are great amid a labor market that's resilient, stable, and robust.

"Everything is holding on better than most people had predicted," Pollak said.

Pollak pointed to employment strength in construction and manufacturing. Construction employment for March was 7.8% higher than the pre-pandemic level in February 2020. Manufacturing employment was 1.4% higher, and its employment was unchanged from this past February to this past March.

The long-feared recession following the wild swings of the early pandemic years has yet to emerge and may not even be on the horizon. "I think stability at a time of high interest rates and restrictive monetary policy expected to lead to losses and declines is something to be celebrated," Pollak said. "And, most of the small changes lately have been in the right direction."

The US could be in a Goldilocks job market. The four charts below show what that looks like.

Job quitting

People looking for a new job have bargaining power, but workers are more likely to stick around their current gigs.

"Job seekers still have some bargaining power but are less willing to demonstrate that power by leaving their jobs," Bunker said. "With fewer new job opportunities and less of a pay bump for switching roles, more employees are staying put. However, layoff rates are still low, so workers have robust job security compared to pre-pandemic levels."

Newly released data for February showed the US quits rate had been 2.2% for four straight months. This rate has cooled down from 3.0% in April 2022. There were 3.5 million quits in February, which the BLS news release noted this metric "was little changed."

Wage growth

Average hourly earnings increased 4.1% from March 2023 to this past March, lower than the year-over-year increase of around 6% in March 2022.

Despite that slowdown, wages have recently been growing faster than prices, meaning workers have more buying power.

"That means real money in the pockets of working families," Julie Su, acting secretary of labor, told Business Insider. "It's exactly what we'd want to see."

Inflation in March, as measured by the year-over-year percent change in the Consumer Price Index, ticked up a little last month, but remains less of a problem than last year. It climbed 3.5% from March 2023 to March 2024, compared to a 3.2% increase from February 2023 to February 2024.

Given moderating wage growth, the Fed could be more inclined to lower interest rates later this year. Pollak said the cooler wage growth is "good news for a Fed that's still battling inflation."

Job switchers are seeing higher wage growth than people staying, according to the 12-month moving average of median wage growth from the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker. Wage growth has slowed, though, for both job switchers and stayers.

"Nominal wage growth may have slowed, but real wage growth — which is what really matters for workers' purchasing power — remains positive and high," Pollak told BI. "Job switchers and current workers are still experiencing solid real wage growth and have clearly retained much of the leverage gained during the pandemic. They are getting recruited, negotiating their job offers, and are receiving counteroffers from old employer's intent on retaining them at historically high rates."

Unemployment insurance claims

Initial claims for unemployment insurance can be a helpful layoff metric, spiking when lots of people lose their jobs. Right now, the boringly low rate of those initial applications for benefits suggests that any kind of large-scale layoffs still have yet to emerge.

Initial claims decreased from the week ending March 30 to the week ending April 6. In general, initial claims have been low so far this year compared to the high level of weekly claims during the pandemic.

"Although there is plenty of speculation that employment has slowed down, recent numbers, including job openings as well as initial jobless claims, continue to indicate that the US labor market has remained stable," Eugenio Alemán, Raymond James' chief economist, said in a note earlier this month.

Unemployment

Back in January 2021 the unemployment rate was 6.4% after spiking into the double digits during the pandemic shutdowns in spring 2020. It has cooled down to 3.8% this past March, just above the historically low rates seen through most of the last two years.

Additionally, the number of people who went from being employed to unemployed has not seen too dramatic of a change; this number was around 1.5 million for each of the past few months.

So what will happen to the Goldilocks job market?

"It would be nice to live in a world where we have low unemployment and there's steady, consistent gains in wage growth and more people coming into the labor market," Bunker said. "So hopefully, fingers crossed, dramatic days are behind us and we can see some strong gains for workers, for job seekers. But, not in the way that feels discombobulated."

While openings, wage growth, and the hires rate have cooled, the overall labor market can be described as more Goldilocks-like, or not too hot and not too cold.

"It's a labor market that has strength, and there's a path ahead of it where it can continue to grow in a sustainable manner," Bunker said.

Juliana Kaplan contributed reporting.

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