News

2012

March

06

• Digital records may not cut health costs. Computerized patient records are unlikely to cut health care costs and may actually encourage doctors to order expensive tests more often, a study published on Monday concludes. Industry experts have said that electronic health records

February

28

• Buyers face higher fees at F.H.A.. Mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — which allows a smaller down payment and has less stringent credit requirements than traditional mortgages — are about to get a bit more expensive. But whether the higher costs

• Pressure grows on Fannie and Freddie to cut principal on loans. California’s attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, has ratcheted up the pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow debt reduction on their home loans by asking the mortgage finance giants to halt foreclosures

23

• 'Facebook score' to screen applicants. You already have an "insurance score." You have an "Employment Credit Score." There's even a "MedFICO," which attempts to predict whether you’ll actually pay your doctor’s bills. Now that a "Facebook score" has

• California health insurers to raise rates 8% to 14%. California's largest health insurers are raising average rates by about 8% to 14% for hundreds of thousands of consumers with individual coverage, outpacing the costs of overall medical care. The cost of goods and services associated with

• Voluntary guidelines for Web privacy. The Obama administration on Thursday plans to announce voluntary guidelines for Web companies to protect consumers’ privacy online, a win for Google, Facebook and other Internet giants that have fought against heavier federal mandates. The

21

• Hertz agrees to government oversight of recalled cars. In the face of an industrywide safety investigation, the nation's second-biggest rental car company has taken the rare step of asking for government regulation to ensure that autos under recall are fixed before they're rented.

• Some doubt settlement will end mortgage ills. Even as government officials prepare to unveil new standards this week for how banks treat millions of Americans facing foreclosure, housing advocates and homeowners are skeptical the rules will be able to do something past

16

• Citigroup will pay $158 million to settle mortgage fraud claims. Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $158 million to settle a whistle-blower’s claims that a unit of the third-biggest U.S. lender deliberately reduced oversight of its loan origination process, causing a surge in borrower defaults.

09

• States negotiate $26 billion deal for homeowners. After months of painstaking talks, government authorities and five of the nation’s biggest banks have agreed to a $26 billion settlement that could provide relief to nearly two million current and former American homeowners harmed

07

• Get more from a second doctor's opinion. If you're like most people, you're inclined to trust your doctor's advice. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans say they don't feel the need for a second opinion or extra research on a medical issue. Plus,

• For many, affordable healthcare hinges on Supreme Court. t remains anyone's guess how the Supreme Court will vote this year on whether Congress can require people to buy insurance as part of President Obama's healthcare reform law. At this point, the smart money

05

• ¿Me retiro o no me retiro?. Llegar a los 62 años es un rompecabezas para quienes quieren dejar de trabajar Muchas personas que trabajan y se están acercando a sus 62 años de edad, cuando ya tienen derecho a empezar

02

• Sen. Feinstein backs health insurance rate controls. A high-stakes ballot measure to give state regulators the power to approve health insurance rates in California has landed a heavyweight supporter: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. One of California's most respected politicians, Feinstein has

• Obama announces home refinancing plan. President Obama on Wednesday made his latest pitch to lift the nation’s beleaguered housing market, unveiling a series of proposals to help struggling borrowers reduce their monthly payments and to stem the continuing slide

January

31

• Japanese auto parts makers admit to price-fixing scheme. For more than a decade, executives at several major Japanese auto parts makers met in secret, sometimes speaking in code, to fix prices on wiring harnesses and other crucial components. The global conspiracy, which stretched

27

• Healthcare system woes clearly seen in cataract patient's case. Karen Fairbank has cataracts and is scheduled for surgery in March at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. With her high-deductible Blue Shield of California policy, she was facing about $3,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. But with a

26

• To shop smart, patients need to know price of care. Over the past few years, the growth in health-care costs has quietly been slowing down. Naturally, we’d like to make this trend last. That means we’ll need to avoid betting big on just

• Obama initiatives to address foreclosure crisis face hurdles. Two new initiatives from President Obama to address the foreclosure crisis — more help for struggling homeowners and aggressive investigations of financial firms — face significant hurdles as the nation's real estate troubles linger in a volatile

23

• All 2011 unemployment insurance benefits taxable. The jobless rate is dipping, but millions of people are still out of work. And that could have implications when they file their income tax returns. Collecting unemployment insurance benefits? All that you received in 2011