News

2009

June

15

• Awash in debt, more car owners try fraud. Driven to desperation, a growing number of financially strapped car owners in the United States are torching, sinking or ditching their vehicles and then reporting them stolen to cash in on the insurance.

• Soda tax to pay for health reform?. Would you like some taxes with that drink? The Senate Finance Committee, looking for ways to pay for health reforms, has been considering the possibility of attaching a federal excise tax for the first time

14

• One policyholder's 54% health insurance hike. Los Angeles resident Ruta Miller, 44, prides herself on keeping fit. "I'm super-healthy," she told me. "I exercise all the time. I eat well. I haven't even had a cold in I don't know how long."

12

• Establece, administra y protege tu crédito. Muchas transacciones en Estados Unidos dependen del crédito. Cuando pides un préstamo, intentas alquilar una vivienda, solicitas una tarjeta de crédito o servicios públicos, el banco, prestamista o entidades crediticias revisan

11

• 'New' Chrysler shielded from 'old' defect claims. Chrysler's bankruptcy will leave lots of people empty-handed. Among them are accident claimants who seek compensation when a faulty Chrysler vehicle causes injury or death. Under terms approved on June 1 by U.S. Bankruptcy Court

• Lawmakers target health insurance tax break. The biggest tax break in America — tax-free health benefits from employers — could be scaled back to pay for President Obama's overhaul of the nation's health care system. Tax-writing committees in Congress are considering a cap

09

• The trouble with Democrats. The governing party faced an awkward dilemma. People were hurting and furious at the government's generous bailouts for banks. But how could the Democrats do something for the folks without upsetting their friends and patrons

• How to mend broken health system. Nowhere else in the world is so much money spent with such poor results. On that point there is rare unanimity among Washington decision makers: The U.S. health system needs a major overhaul. For

08

• Car fraud cases heat up in downturn. Motorists unable to afford payments on pricey cars and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles in this recession are turning to a time-tested financing solution: matches. Insurance cheats are torching their vehicles in remote deserts. They're pushing

07

• Enough teeth to fight the loan sharks. Pity the neighborhood loan shark. The credit card companies have stolen his customers by taking a softer approach to charging outrageous interest rates. During the subprime lending boom, mortgage banks shouldered into shark territory, too.

06

• Kennedy readies health-care bill. Senator Edward Kennedy(D-Mass.) has laid down the first marker in this year's debate over how to revamp the nation's health-care system, writing a bill that would put strict new requirements on individuals and businesses

• When a layoff becomes a lifestyle. When Matthew Thomas of Alexandria was laid off in September from a downtown Washington advocacy group, he wasn't too worried. The 49-year-old office worker had severance and never had trouble finding work. He sent a

04

• Hardest-hit victims of the auto bankruptcies. We’ve all heard about the financial hardships caused by the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors. Employees, dealers and stockholders have all been hurt. But there are other victims who are not as visible:

• U.S. to unveil regulatory reform plan soon. The Obama administration plans to unveil on June 17 its sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, according to a source familiar with thinking at the U.S. Treasury Department. The proposal will serve as a framework

• Cost of drugs out of reach. A year or so ago, when customers buttonholed the pharmacists at Almand’s Drug Store here the questions were invariably about dosing or side effects. These days, they are almost always about cost. Can I

02

• Administration nears finance overhaul plan. Washington is asking some painful questions about how to prevent the next financial meltdown. Should it reinvent the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation? Abolish the seemingly feckless overseer of savings and loans? Grant new powers to

01

• Hurdles in Obama's push to revamp health care. Now the policymakers who for months have been promising to overhaul the health care system have to start doing it. This year's fast-track timetable on health care calls for leaders of key congressional committees to

May

30

• Hidden costs of high-deductible health insurance. Is your medical insurance bad for your health? If you have a high-deductible plan, the answer may be yes. The investment firm Fidelity recently surveyed employees at various companies who had opted for a high-deductible

29

• Senator Kennedy preparing health-care reform bill. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is circulating the outlines of sweeping health-care legislation that would require every American to have insurance and would mandate that employers contribute to workers' coverage. The plan in the summary

28

• Insured pay 'hidden tax' for uninsured health care. The average U.S. family and their employers paid an extra $1,017 in health care premiums last year to compensate for the uninsured, according to a study to be released Thursday by an advocacy group for