Consumerist
eecb
Posts Tagged “
Insurance
”
eecb
worst company in america
Worst Company In America 2008 "Sweet 16": Bank of America VS Blue Cross Blue Shield
health insurance
How To Get Health Insurance After College
This year, 1.4 million graduates will be receiving their college degrees, but many of them will be losing their parents' health insurance, according to The Wall Street Journal. Many group health plans cover employees' children up to age 19 or 23, forcing many young men and women to find their own health insurance. The WSJ has assembled some ways to find health insurance and talks about how some young people are getting creative in the process. Details, inside... More »
moving disaster
Broadway Express Responds With More Information About The Moving Disaster
The moving company responsible for the moving disaster that we mentioned the other day has written in to share some information about the way insurance works in the event of such a catastrophe. More »
health care
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Thoughts On Health Care Reform
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shared some thoughts on health care reform from "an economist's perspective" today. He was short on proposals, but did suggest that we concentrate our attention on improving the cost-effectiveness of our health care system: More »
advice
The Basics Of Insurance, Taxes, And 401(k)s For First-Time Employees
If you're entering the work force for the first time (although this probably pertains to lots of older employees too), all the details of insurance, taxes, and 401(k)s can be daunting/boring/confusing. Ron Lieber at the New York Times has pared away the extraneous bits and created a "primer for young people starting their first job," including helpful advice like why it's important to get health insurance, how to fill out your W-4, and why it's good to take advantage of the built-in "raise" that comes from a company-matching 401(k). Sure, this is all basic stuff, but that's the point. Ya gotta start somewhere. More »
moving disaster
What Do You Do When Your Moving Company Destroys Everything You Own?
What should you do when you carefully pack all of your belongings into a truck for a cross country move and the driver promptly drives under a bridge that's a couple feet shorter than said truck? That's the question that one couple is asking after their move from Boston to Oakland, CA went horribly awry. They shared their story with a Boston alumni email list and one user posted it to LiveJournal. Their letter, plus a gallery of photos generously donated by eyewitness (and Flickr user) K a t m, inside. More »
health care
Judging by the fact that 3 of the 16 remaining candidates for "Worst Company in America" are insurance companies, we suspect that some of you are not happy with the state of health care in this country. With that in mind, we thought we'd direct you to an interesting episode of the PBS documentary series Frontline.
More »
Can The US Learn Anything From Health Care In Other Countries?
Judging by the fact that 3 of the 16 remaining candidates for "Worst Company in America" are insurance companies, we suspect that some of you are not happy with the state of health care in this country. With that in mind, we thought we'd direct you to an interesting episode of the PBS documentary series Frontline.
More »
scams
Advantage Rent-A-Car Says 49 Hours In Shop Equals 22 Days
Paul is being cheated by Advantage Rent-A-Car in one of the most transparent, odious scams we've seen a rental car company try to pull. After a thief damaged his rental on a recent trip, Advantage says because the car was in the shop for 49 hours, he owes them 22 days worth of rent. "I asked how they got that number and they said they use a 4 hour work day, which is laughable! Even with that it would only be 12 days. Even if you are generous and give them 2 weekends it only gets to 16!" More »
rapture
Save Your Friends From Post-Rapture Hellfire For Only $40 Per Year
A company called You've Been Left Behind is selling a post-Rapture package that sends emails to your sinful friends and family, letting them know where you are and what's up with the whole pending apocalypse thing. For only $40 per year, You've Been Left Behind offers "to get one last message to the lost, at a time, when they might just be willing to hear it for the first and last time." More »
complaints
BCBS Double Copay On Thyroid Meds
Mary is freaking out because BCBS of Maryland just doubled the copay on her thyroid meds. Times are tight, and Mary doesn't have a thyroid. The insurance companies have been telling her for years that Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs is a generic, now BCBS has classified it as not being generic. She's pretty ticked, and considering getting married to her fiance early just to get on his insurance. Her letter, and how she might save $200.32 a year, inside. More »
billing errors
Profitable Farmers Insurance "Error" Has Been Going On for A Year And A Half Now
Susan in Wisconsin was charged an extra $10.30 last October, even though she'd already paid the next six months of her premium in full a month before. "I thought maybe I had misread my initial bill and paid the amount said to be due," she writes. But then it happened again last month, so she began to investigate. More »
insurance
Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna: Sorry, Your Pregnancy Is A Pre-Existing Condition
Katlyn is having trouble getting health insurance because she just graduated from college and is 15 weeks pregnant. She's found herself in an expensive situation. More »
healthcare
HCA: It's Hospital Policy To Shakedown Patients Before They Leave
It is hospital chain HCA's policy to "wrest as much cash as humanly possible out of patients before they leave the building," even if the patient hasn't yet recovered from major surgery. The bedside shakedowns occur before the for-profit hospital submits its claims to the insurance company, shifting the burden of payment from insurance companies to patients. Stephanie Mencimer wrote about her experience with HCA after her father underwent knee replacement surgery:
Among the many hospital personnel who stopped in to see my father after surgery was a "financial counselor" from the billing office, who basically started stalking him from the minute he left the intensive care unit.More »
followups
UPS Can't Find Your Lost Computer, So They'll Honor Their Insurance Policy
Remember Nick? UPS smashed up his insured computer and then refused to provide any compensation, even after mysteriously shipping it to a stranger. UPS' public relations folks reached out to us after we posted his story and recently sent us an update: "...after a search of all UPS’s facilities we were not able to recover his computer." Bummer, but all is not lost. More »
injuries
Cut Your Hand At Kmart? The Manager Will Provide Paperwork Instead Of Help
Paul reached into a clearance bin at Kmart and cut himself on a rotary blade. Blood everywhere, fingertips flying like chunky confetti, you can imagine the scene (oh wait, we just did for you). He went to the customer service desk to ask for help and was greeted with an annoyed store manager who was concerned about two things only: whether or not there was any "contaminated area" to clean up, and getting Paul to fill out some paperwork for insurance purposes. What she wasn't concerned about was helping Paul in any way, even after he explicitly asked for help, as the following exchange makes clear. More »
executive email carpet bombs
