Headline News Archive

2011

March

20

• Health insurers’ new prescription for profit. Here’s one change few were talking about when the health overhaul law passed: It’s sent insurers — worried the law could stunt profits and

19

• Health plans for people with pre-existing conditions. Six years ago, Jerry Garner, 45, a real estate agent in Gowen, Mich., underwent a kidney transplant. He recovered nicely, and thanks to diligent adherence to

17

• Elizabeth Warren defends consumer agency in mortgage talks. Federal consumer bureau head Elizabeth Warren made no apologies Wednesday for the new agency’s involvement in ongoing settlement negotiations with some of the nation’

16

• Health Net faces second probe over lost personal data. A second California insurance regulator has announced plans to investigate insurer Health Net for losing computer records that contain Social Security numbers and other personal

15

• Not all rental cars are safe. Frequent business traveler Barry Maher avoids Chrysler PT Cruisers because "they seem so flimsy," but he otherwise doesn't consider safety ratings before choosing a rental

• Hacker group says BofA tried to hide loan information. A hacker group that calls itself Anonymous released a trove of e-mails Monday from a Bank of America unit in which employees discuss altering information

11

• Major changes ahead for U.S. mortgage system. Fundamental changes are probably ahead for the American mortgage system as the federal government pushes to unwind its unprecedented involvement in the housing market. These

10

• Health care coverage: Big changes in 2012. Come 2012, millions of Americans who get health care coverage through their employer should brace for some big changes. Charging higher contributions for dependent coverage and

08

• AAA should disclose business-approval fees. Jose Gomora runs an auto repair shop in Sherman Oaks. Even if you didn't know that, it'd be easy enough to find out if you

06

• Death is only the start of a draining fight with insurer. Jane Pierce spent nine years struggling alongside her husband, Todd, as he fought cancer in his sinus cavity. The treatments were working. Then in July 2009,

03

• Officials disagree on penalties for mortgage mess. Even as state attorneys general and regulators in Washington approach the end of their investigation into abuses by the nation’s biggest mortgage companies, deep

01

• Obama offers more flexibility in health-care law. President Obama sought to defuse criticism of the new health-care overhaul Monday by saying he is willing to give states an earlier opportunity to opt

• Geithner wants housing finance overhaul bill. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is telling Congress that the Obama administration wants Congress to approve legislation overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's troubled

February

25

• BofA's woes from Countrywide worsen. More than three years after Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial Corp., the legal mess the bank inherited from the mortgage giant

24

• Experian adds rental histories to credit reports. Renters who need to build their credit histories are getting a leg up from a major consumer credit-reporting firm. Experian is incorporating rental payment data

17

• States develop online shopping systems for health insurance. The Obama administration awarded $241 million in grants to seven states to develop new Internet-based systems that would let many Americans shop for health insurance online.

15

• Beyond Fannie and Freddie. The report on Friday on “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market” left me feeling downright giddy. While the report is hardly a finished plan for

• Most uninsured Californians could gain health coverage. Nearly 5 million uninsured Californians could gain access to health coverage in 2014 when the nation's healthcare law expands eligibility for subsidized insurance programs for the poor,

10

• Fighting for Fannie, Freddie. To many Republicans and the Obama administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government's mortgage giants, are ill. But rather than healing them, both sides

08

• Marry again: Financial planning a must. Life used to be so simple a generation or two ago. A mother, father and their kids, all living together under one roof. But now,

• U.S. should step back from mortgage business. A group of Wall Street professionals meeting here Monday posed a central question facing the Obama administration: How do taxpayers get off the hook for

01

• Judge strikes down entire new health-care law. A federal judge in Florida on Monday became the first to strike down the entire law to overhaul the nation's health-care system, potentially complicating implementation

January

30

• New in this season's tax return. For taxpayers who are procrastinators, this is your year. Not only is the Internal Revenue Service asking those with more complex returns to hold off

• Bank crisis whodunit, with laughs and tears. Truly startling revelations were few in the voluminous report, published last Thursday by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission on the origins of the financial panic.

• Lose a job? Pay cut? Double check your tax return. If you had some major economic challenges in 2010, your tax situation may be different from in years past. So be more than a passive (or