News

2018

May

01

• Gig economy dealt a blow in California ruling. In a ruling with potentially sweeping consequences for the so-called gig economy, the California Supreme Court on Monday made it much more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employers.

• Consumer Action INSIDER - May 2018. This month's INSIDER brings you articles on our work to highlight missing mandatory signs at optometrists' offices in California; the results of a survey of our network partners about our consumer educational materials; our train-the-trainer event on job training and apprenticeship programs; and a new financial health pilot we're working on, among other news. Hotline Chronicles tells the story of the hasty repossession of a woman's deceased dad's car and we have a crop of "coalition efforts" and some interesting new lawsuit settlements from our Class Action Database.

April

27

• Consumer Action organized the Sharing Economy Insurance Roundtable in Los Angeles (Chinese). 非營利組織全美消費者行動（Consumer Action )26日在洛杉磯舉辦「共享經濟」下基本稅務知識社區講座，參與者來自多個族裔社區包括華埠服務中心。愈來愈多在美消費者接受新型共享經濟社會形態，比如Airbnb、Uber以及TaskRabbit等，如何在共享經濟平台下，讓自己更「保險」、更合法。

• The fine print of short-term health plans: Don't get sick on weekends. The Trump administration's most insidious attack on the Affordable Care Act involves its loosening of the rules covering short-term health plans. How insidious?

26

• Where the $1 billion from the Wells Fargo settlement goes. Wells Fargo bank will pay $1 billion in civil penalties and compensate hundreds of thousands of victims of its abusive lending practices, according to settlements by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of…

• The consumer complaints database that could disappear from view. When a consumer has a complaint about a bank, whether it's dealing with a mortgage or a credit card, right now there's a place to lodge that complaint online. It's easy to click around and…

• Homeownership gap between blacks and whites unchanged. The affordability of homeownership depends on income, the price of homes and interest rates, but a recent study by Zillow, an online real estate site, found income inequality among races affects homeownership rates. Despite 50…

25

• How to protect your children from identity theft. When identity theft hits adults, it can be a long and frustrating battle to restore their good name. But imagine the confusion that ensues when a young adult tries to get a credit card for the…

• Mulvaney, watchdog's leader, advises bankers on ways to curtail agency. Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet only…

24

• How schools can teach kids to be smart consumers. Most financial literacy efforts in schools don’t improve people’s behavior later in life. That could be because we’re focusing on the wrong things. Trying to teach teenagers how to shop for a mortgage, for example,…

• Who pays for autonomous driving fatalities?. The advent of autonomous cars has the potential to fundamentally change the massive automobile liability insurance industry. It boils down to this: how can you be considered at fault in a traffic accident when there’s no…

18

• We’re bad at evaluating risk. How doctors can help. Research suggests that physicians’ recommendations powerfully influence how patients weigh their choices, and that while almost all patients want to know their options, most want their doctor to make the final decision. The greater the…

17

• Teach kids to be smart consumers. Most financial literacy efforts in schools don’t improve people’s behavior later in life. That could be because we’re focusing on the wrong things. Trying to teach teenagers how to shop for a mortgage, for example,…

12

• Mulvaney leading Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over a cliff. Accounts of the slow death of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are not exaggerations. In his just released report to Congress, the agency’s acting director, Mick Mulvaney, was clear about his mission. “The bureau is…

10

• Récord máximo de pérdidas por desastres cubiertas por seguro. Las pérdidas en todo el mundo ocasionadas por desastres y cubiertas por seguro alcanzaron un récord de 144.000 millones de dólares...

09

• Prescription drugs priced lower than the deductible - 20% of the insured were affected (Chinese). 【新唐人2018年04月09日讯】根据南加大公布的调查报告，2013年上半年，有160万名美国居民，在购买950万份处方药时，一共超额支付了$1.35亿美元，这是什么原因呢？一起来了解。

08

• Prescription drugs 40% off - HSA account contributions maxed out before tax filing (Chinese). 在報稅季截止日的4月17日前，存滿健康儲蓄帳戶（HSA）2017年的3400元額度（家庭6750元，55歲以上可再加1000元），可盡享該帳戶的三重稅惠：供款、利息及股利、取用合格醫療花費免去聯邦稅。

06

• New FCC policy would be a ‘death sentence’ for Puerto Ricans. A new rule championed by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai would limit internet and phone access for millions of low-income and elderly Americans. 

05

• PBMs are pocketing patient money and increasing costs. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) — health insurance middle-men wedged between plan managers, drug manufacturers, patients and pharmacies — are pushing a new payment scheme called accumulator adjustment programs (AAPs) that could increase out‐of‐pocket costs for…

04

• Mulvaney, Consumer Bureau’s chief, urges Congress to cripple agency. Mr. Mulvaney, a longtime and unapologetic critic of the financial crisis-era bureau, has spent the last several months freezing its enforcement activities, dropping cases on payday lenders and shutting out career staff from major decisions.…