News

2013

January

10

• Are generics really the same as branded drugs?. In October the Food and Drug Administration took a highly unusual step: It declared that a generic drug it had previously approved -- a version of the popular antidepressant Wellbutrin -- was not in fact

06

• Health insurers raise some rates by double digits. Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to

05

• Vast cache of Kaiser patient details was kept in private home. Federal and state officials are investigating whether healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente violated patient privacy in its work with an Indio couple who stored nearly 300,000 confidential hospital records for the company.

03

• Financial reform battle continues over Dodd-Frank law. The fate of financial reform may be decided in the coming year as congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle attempt to modify the Dodd-Frank Act. In the two years since Congress passed the

2012

December

31

• Simple financial resolutions for 2013. Make resolutions if you must: But that doesn't usually last. Resolutions get broken because they are too lofty and too ill-defined. It is better to break your resolutions down into a specific to do

30

• Individual mandate in healthcare was year's top consumer story. This was the year of the healthcare mandate. No other consumer story of 2012 comes close. In a split decision, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. casting the deciding vote, the U.S. Supreme Court

27

• Perfect 10? Ask her for her credit score. As she nibbled on strawberry shortcake, Jessica LaShawn, a flight attendant from Chicago, tried not to get ahead of herself and imagine this first date turning into another and another, and maybe, at some point,

• New taxes for Obama's health overhaul. New taxes are coming Jan. 1 to help finance President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Most people may not notice. But they will pay attention if Congress decides to start taxing employer-sponsored health insurance,

26

• Health-care sector vulnerable to hackers. As the health-care industry rushed onto the Internet in search of efficiencies and improved care in recent years, it has exposed a wide array of vulnerable hospital computers and medical devices to hacking, according to

24

• Florida debt-relief firm penalized by CFPB. A Florida debt-relief company will pay as much as $100,000 in refunds to customers under the first joint enforcement action between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its state allies. Payday Loan Debt Solution Inc. was

22

• Walking the tightrope on mental health coverage. Insurance covers more mental health care than many people may realize, and more people will soon have the kind of health insurance that does so. But coverage goes only so far when there aren&rsquo

18

• How your health care will change in 2013. New limit on healthcare spending accounts in 2013 is $2500.

13

• Health insurance: US paying more for less. Health insurance premiums have shot up more than 60 percent in the last eight years, and if they keep up at this pace the average family of four will be paying $25,000 a year just for health

• Deadline approaches as SBA OKs millions in Sandy distaster loans. In the month after Hurricane Sandy, the Small Business Adminsitration approved $156.56 million in low-interest disaster loans to 2,507 homeowners, renters and businesses in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The SBA has 377 employees working

04

• Collecting on travel insurance not smooth sailing. When it comes to travel, especially involving something as pricey as a cruise, it's wise to take precautions. You never know when you may have to cancel your trip. Bill and Sally Mathews paid $1,140

01

• Pay the penalty, or insure your staff?. Rose Wang looks at her staff of 70 employees and wonders if she’ll have to lay off some of them to comply with the health care law. Wang’s worry is a gut-wrenching

November

26

• So you’re a good driver? let’s go to the monitor. Last week, under my car’s dashboard, I installed a small wireless gadget that would monitor my driving. I wanted to see how it felt to have my driving behavior captured, sent to an insurance

21

• Millions will qualify for new options under the health care law. Most have no idea.. After surviving a Supreme Court decision and a presidential election, the Obama administration’s health-care law faces another challenge: a public largely unaware of major changes that will roll out in the coming months.

• Officials propose altered rules for health insurers. The Obama administration proposed new rules Tuesday that would loosen some of the 2010 health-care law’s mandates on insurers while tightening others. Certain health plans, for instance, would be able to charge customers higher deductibles

15

• Health law has states feeling tense over deadline. States are supposed to tell the Obama administration by Friday whether they want to create their own health insurance exchange — a deadline that many had bet might never come to pass, choosing to sit on