Headline News Archive

2010

September

03

• Don't automatically refuse extra rental car insurance coverage. For years, travel and financial experts have been urging us to avoid it, calling it a rip-off, a scam, a way for car rental companies…

• Employers push costs for health on workers. As health care costs continue their relentless climb, companies are increasingly passing on higher premium costs to workers. The shift is occurring, policy analysts and…

02

• California's safety-net health insurance premiums rise. As state leaders blast giant health insurers for raising rates, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has quietly allowed hefty increases for thousands of sick or jobless…

August

31

• Be skeptical of health-care credit cards. These days, you may leave your dentist's office with more than a toothbrush and dental floss in your bag. Thousands of dentists are offering patients…

26

• Quest for the perfect credit score. A major league pitcher dreams of throwing a perfect game. High schoolers eyeing the Ivy League study furiously in hopes of earning 2400 on the…

20

• A health insurance lesson for students. Unless your soon-to-be-roommate mentioned on Facebook that she has a mysterious and potentially contagious rash, you probably haven't given much thought to what you'll do…

• Fatalies on the job fell in 2009. The total number of fatal workplace injuries fell by 17 percent last year, to 4,340, down from 5,214 in 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics…

• Health premiums shrink wages. Workers will pay more for their health care next year as U.S. companies prepare for provisions of the overhaul signed into law by President Barack…

18

• COBRA ends; insurance bill increases. Jennifer Richards of Park Ridge, Ill., is angry that her family's monthly health insurance bill tripled in August to $1,250 after her husband lost his…

16

• See the future of primary care. About 65 million Americans live in communities with a shortage of primary care doctors, physicians trained to meet the majority of patients' health care needs…

15

• New flood boundaries, higher premiums. One day your house is outside a hazardous flood plain - and the next day it's in, potentially costing you hundreds of dollars a year…

13

• Insurance regulators face tough balancing act. A few months into a new job as a contract engineer, Jim Arey was stunned by an $8,000 bill he received for two doctor-administered infusions…

• Elizabeth Warren: poised to become borrower's best friend. Somewhere along the line, Elizabeth Warren became a symbol. She's either the plain-spoken, supremely smart crusader for middle-class families that her supporters adore, or she's…

12

• Groups shed light on health care law. True or false: The new health care law will cut Medicare benefits for seniors. It will slash Medicare payments to doctors. It will ration health…

11

• Travel surgeries: One way to cut health care costs. Tina Follett and her husband Patrick are in Panama on a two-week all-expenses paid trip. But Tina isn't on vacation. She's there to get surgery.…

10

• NY AG probes health care credit cards. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo expanded his health-care credit card probe, which has included subpoenas to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Health Advance, Citigroup…

• Uninhabited or rented homes get different insurance coverage. n many neighborhoods around the country, "for sale" signs outnumber telephone poles, and some of those signs are looking awfully weather-beaten. Even owners of oceanfront…

09

• Angry customers venting online. You've been cheated or mistreated by a business, and no one from the company seems to care. Now what? Thousands of jilted consumers have turned…

07

• Demystifying emergency room bills. During a snowstorm last winter, my 6-year-old son fell and cut his chin — not outside on the ice, but inside on the tile bathroom…

05

• Regulators' top 10 investment scams. Investment scams always sprout during a recession, and con artists are reaping a big harvest in this economic downturn. "It's pretty bad out there," says…

• Insecure about securities? Lawmakers hope studies will help. Within the massive financial reform package is a requirement for no fewer than seven studies intended to help protect individual investors. They fall under a…

01

• Arbitration quietly closes doors of protest. Lease a car, enroll in a cell phone plan or finance the purchase of a major appliance, and you're likely signing away your rights. Most…

July

30

• Health insurance rates: California plans crack down, but how hard?. As millions of Californians continue to cope with surging costs for health insurance, state lawmakers, consumer advocates and lobbyists in Sacramento are haggling over how…

• Websites help patients compare prices for health care. As Alan Grunberg neared 50, he knew he was going to need a colonoscopy, so the Chicago-based Realtor began shopping around to try and find…

29

• Toyota recalls 412,000 cars in U.S.. Toyota Corp. said Thursday that it is recalling 412,000 Avalons and Lexuses for steering problems, bringing the number of cars recalled around the world since…