News
2009
January
06
- Presentan caso de fraude con seguros. Los principales gestores de una empresa que negociaba con pólizas de seguros de vida, fueron acusados por la fiscalía federal de un fraude que causó pérdidas de $837 millones a miles de inversionistas.
04
- A voice for the consumer. The time has come to give the American consumer a much stronger voice in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama has already named what amounts to an energy and environmental czar in the White House, and America’
- Stick in Paradise, needing medical help. IT all started because we didn’t want to eat a dinner for a second night at the Oberoi resort at Lombok, Indonesia. Admittedly, it was a stunning setting, overlooking the Bali Sea, dark mountains
- Time to drop 'consumer' label?. One of my New Year's resolutions is to stop referring to myself as a consumer.
The idea for the resolution actually came from reader Tom Krohn, who suggested that it's not just the country's spending
2008
December
31
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- Obama team engages public on health care. Dolly Sweet, 77, has battled cancer more than once. She's a fighter. But when her doctor recently prescribed a medication that cost $35,000 a year, she felt she had no choice.
"I canceled the medicine," she said
29
- Cut health costs, not your care. Amber Eyerly, 32, says she's never been much good at saving money. But with only minimal raises, at best, expected for 2009 at the Los Angeles public relations firm where she works, Eyerly carefully studied her health
28
- Advocates hope watchdog agencies get more bite. You'll be safer in 2009. At least that's the expectation of consumer watchdogs who believe the changing of the guard at the White House in a few weeks will mark the beginning of a new era
26
- States cut medicaid coverage further. States from Rhode Island to California are being forced to curtail Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, as they struggle to cope with the deteriorating economy.
With revenue falling at the same
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- Dangerous drug interactions could affect millions. At least 2.2 million older adults in the U.S. take medicine in combinations that could trigger dangerous drug interactions, causing gastrointestinal bleeding, muscle breakdown, disruption in heart rhythm and other serious problems, according to a
22
- Hospital debt collections: No charity. Every Wednesday at noon, debt collection lawyers take their seats behind a thick wooden table in a downtown Baltimore courtroom for a ritual they call the "rocket docket."
It's one way officials at the city
18
- Homeowners face foreclosure limbo. She may live in an epicenter of the U.S. housing crisis, but Vickie Lewis is far from any stereotype conjured up in coverage of the record number of Americans whose homes are in foreclosure.
15
- Cremation on rise in tough economic times. When Dorothy Anderson died in late September at age 87, her grandson would have preferred burying her at Woodlawn Cemetery. But money was tight for Edward Rucker, so he opted to save money by having her
- Families move to 529s to lock in tuition rates. As the stock market swoons and tuition costs soar, more families are deciding to pay for college in advance through their 529 plans.
For years, families have preferred the savings type of 529 plan -- named for
14
- Consumer movement at a crossroads. Since 1989, all new cars sold in the United States have had an air bag on the driver's side. It's estimated they save almost 3,000 lives a year.
The woman largely responsible for that is Joan Claybrook,
- Boost your variable annuities future benefit. A popular type of variable annuity - the one with guaranteed "living benefits" - may be the riskiest product ever sold by the insurance industry. Risky to the health of the insurance carriers, that is.
- Lost money? Counting more than pennies. If you have been checking coat pockets or under sofa cushions for spare change, you know that every cent counts these days.
Yet a big chunk of change is sitting at government agencies just waiting
13
- How much house can you afford?. The past two years have demonstrated in dramatic fashion what can happen to people who overreach to buy the home they want.
The lesson: Qualifying for the mortgage does not necessarily mean you can afford
10
- Why tie health insurance to a job?. (Dr. Emanuel, an oncologist and chairman of the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health, is author of "Healthcare, Guaranteed" (Public Affairs, 2008). Wyden, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Oregon and
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