Search results for insurance
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Posted
Sep 28 2009, 01:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A new Harvard study estimates that nearly 45,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance -- and that's after other factors like income and unhealthy behaviors are taken into account.
"Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease," an article by the Cambridge Health Alliance reports.
The study says the uninsured have a 40% higher risk of death than people who have private health insurance -- like the insurance you get through your job. Or, to put it another way, a person dies because of a lack of insurance every 12 minutes.
Of course, some people neglect their health. But many, we suspect, don't see a doctor because they're afraid of the cost. Doctor visits and tests can add up to an intimidating amount, even if you're uninsured but have a good income. A CNN story put a human face on some of these avoidable deaths -- a freelance cameraman, a self-employed mother of two, and a 25-year-old woman who worked in a movie theater.
So we had to wonder: Have you put off visits to the doctor because of financial considerations?
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Posted
Sep 28 2009, 11:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
The vast majority of U.S. drivers believes handheld texting while driving is very dangerous and should be banned nationwide, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates on behalf of the Ford Motor Co., found that 86% of U.S. drivers believe handheld texting while driving is "very dangerous" and 93% support a nationwide ban on it.
At the same time, only 42% of those asked think drivers would stop texting behind the wheel if the practice were banned. However, more than 75% say there would be more compliance if hands-free or voice-activated technologies were widely available.
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 06:10 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We knew that health insurance companies refuse to sell individual policies to people who've had cancer or hypertension. But acne or bunions -- or working in a first-responder job?
Insurance company documents obtained and made public by Consumer Watchdog indicate how far some insurers will go to limit individual coverage to only the healthiest people (and those with the safest jobs). A hangnail? You'll get coverage. Toenail fungus? Perhaps not.
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Posted
Sep 03 2009, 09:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
One of the pleasures of reading Sports Illustrated is the brief weekly feature called "Sign of the Apocalypse."
We think SI nailed it with this "sign": "A Long Island company is offering insurance to fantasy football owners that allows them to recoup their league fees if a player on their team gets hurt."
Could anyone possibly think this is a good idea? Let's see.
Bing: Fantasy football rankings
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Posted
Aug 05 2009, 01:12 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
With the battle over health care reform likely to last well into the fall, a new survey suggests that a lot of consumers are ready for some changes.
People who took part in the latest Consumer Reports survey say median annual out-of-pocket costs for premiums increased by 38% in the past two years, and only 64% of those surveyed were "very" or "completely" satisfied with their current health insurance plan.
"That's a lukewarm response and a slight drop from the 67% in our 2007 report," said Mandy Walker, senior project editor for CR. "In terms of services we rate, that puts satisfaction with health insurance above satisfaction with cable TV, a perennial whipping post, but below pharmacies and real estate agents."
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Posted
Aug 03 2009, 01:08 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
In recognition of the national debate over health care reform, which is about to move front and center, here are two brief histories of bloggers without health insurance.
One is about David, who decided to go without. The other is the story of Leanne at Mrs. Bankrupt, who recently penned a three-part series called "Sick? No insurance. No doctor. You're screwed."
We'll start with David at Goliath Debt, David Income, who was so focused on paying down his colossal debt that he skimped when he shouldn't have -- his wife and his newborn baby aren't insured and it's proven to be quite costly.
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Posted
Jul 29 2009, 02:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Sorry, folks, but sometimes lawmakers do need to legislate against stupidity. Is there no better example than DWT -- driving while texting?
We weren't surprised that some of our readers found it difficult to believe that talking on a cell phone -- handheld or hands-free -- is more distracting to a driver than talking to a person who is sitting in the car. But could anyone really think that DWT is safe?
Common sense screams that it's not, and the newest evidence just confirms the obvious. Surely you've read about the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that found that a driver who is texting is 23 times more likely to crash or have a near crash than drivers who are actually paying attention to the road. Also, according to The New York Times:
In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices -- enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.
Equipped with this new information, four U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would require states to ban driving while texting or e-mailing within two years or lose a quarter of their federal highway funds "each year until the money was depleted," The New York Times says.
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Posted
Jul 27 2009, 07:56 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
How much do you figure your neighbor's dog (cat, parrot, boa constrictor, tame alligator) costs you? I have to say, I expect my own pets to be destructive and figure the repair bills to be part of the cost of doing business. But one thing we tend not to budget for is the depredations of other people's critters.
While M'hijito's roommate was in Singapore visiting his relatives and hustling for a job, he left his brand-new Infiniti parked in the driveway (Roommate is the scion of a ridiculously wealthy family).
Quick backstory: Some time back, Roommate became enamored of a cat belonging to the old guy who lives in the house behind M'hijito's place. He took to feeding and watering the beast, much to M'hijito's disgust (it uses the vegetable garden as its litter box), and he has thought of it as "his" cat. In his absence, the cat has taken up residence on top of the Infiniti, where it sleeps at night, out of reach of hunting coyotes and stray pit bulls.
So the other day as M'hijito was headed out to work, he noticed a couple of brown mounds on top of the Infiniti. On closer inspection ... oops! Cat mounds!
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Posted
Jul 22 2009, 02:33 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
One objective of health care legislation pushed by President Obama is universal coverage -- providing health insurance options for all Americans. The question, of course, is how to do it.
Backers of the so-called government option, in which a Medicare-like policy competes with private insurers, can point to a new study by The Commonwealth Fund. The study found that 73% of people who tried to buy insurance on their own in the last three years did not purchase a policy, primarily because premiums were too high.
In addition, among adults with individual coverage or those who tried to buy coverage in the past three years:
- 57% said it was very difficult or impossible to find coverage they could afford.
- 47% said it was very difficult or impossible to find a plan with the coverage they needed.
- 36% were denied coverage or charged more because of a pre-existing condition, or the condition was excluded from their coverage.
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Posted
Jul 14 2009, 05:53 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
I had the great pleasure of going to traffic court recently. Yay!
I was there to contest a ticket for making an improper left turn through a red light. The ticket was for $90 and I'm unsure how many points it would've been, but an improper turn costs one point and failure to stop at a red is two points. Do I get both, or just the worse of the two? I wasn't sure, but I knew points usually mean my insurance would go up and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Note: Everything contained in this article is based on my experience in a Maryland courtroom and with Maryland procedures, specifically Howard County District Court. The process and rules may be different in your jurisdiction.
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