A federal audit of Medicare coverage by brand-name insurance companies found a pattern of wrongly denied claims and deceptive marketing practices, NYT reports. In some cases, salesmen would show up at elderly folk’s doors and say the President sent them, or that they’re from Medicare. In others, telemarketers call and say they’re from Medicare and the person will lose their benefits if they don’t enroll in the telemarketer’s plan. Our country’s healthcare system is on life support and we’re not sure what will fix it. Perhaps an appetite for more oversight, audits and fines for misbehaving companies would do the trick.
BLOGS
Feeling Poor? Get Rid Of Clutter
By 10.8.07
If your empty wallet makes you feel the same, one way to boost your spirits is to get rid of crap around your house you don’t need, writes Debt-Proof Living.
2. CURB THE CLUTTER. I don’t care how clean your house may be, if you have clutter it’s pulling you down. Clear your closets, drawers, cupboards, garage and counters of everything that you do not need or brings beauty to your life. Clean open spaces, tranquility and simplicity chase away feelings of poverty. Clutter invites chaos which leads to depression and feelings of deprivation.
Toss it, garage sale it, give it away, burn it. Unnecessary objects steal energy and attention. Freeing up physical space frees up psychic space and boosts your mood, maybe even giving you enough energy to tackle a project that will more directly impact your bottom line, like figuring out a way to make more money, or reducing expenses.
Another Good Reason To Hate The "Life Takes Visa" Campaign
By 10.8.07
Credit Slips points out another reason we loathe the Life Takes Visa campaign. You know, the one where everyone moves in blissful synchronicity, swiping their debit cards for small items, then the party stops and everyone glowers at the tardbucket who pays for stuff with cash.
Delta Downgrades Frequent Flyer Miles
By 10.6.07
Upgrade: Travel Better informs us that ever so lightly, Delta adjusted its frequent-flyer redemption policy to make it worse for travelers:
Effective December 1, 2007, SkyChoice Award Ticket Reservations will no longer be available on every Delta flight in which a seat is available for sale. SkyChoice Award Ticket Reservations will continue to be available on most Delta flights, but seats will be limited and possibly unavailable on some flights.
Nudge. Nudge. Nudge. At this rate, some day you’ll actually have to pay a fine for accumulating frequent flyer miles.
By 10.5.07
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How one blogger found a kitchen-remodel contractor he’s very happy with. [All Financial Matters]
New Comcast Complaint Site: Comcastmustdie.com
By 10.5.07
Cranky Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield has channeled his Comcast loathing into a new blog endeavor, Comcastmustdie.com. Garfield figured why should he have all the fun lambasting Comcast on his blog? So he set up a new blog and invites you to give Comcast what’s for in the comments. Besides your complaint, he encourages you to include your customer number in your posts so Comcast can identify you (in case they decide to care).
Cellphone Companies Typically Take 2-6 Weeks To Release Call Records That Could Help Catch Thieves
By 10.5.07
Here’s another good reason to know how to exploit the executive customer service system for your cellphone company: so you can give them to the cops. If your cellphone is stolen and you try to request call records to help you track down the thieves, making a request through grunt-level customer service can take two to six weeks. By then, the trail is probably pretty cold. But if law enforcement gets your request in to the right level, Sprint says they can turn it around within a “few hours.”
The Non-Fancy Way To Buy A House
By 10.5.07
With all the talk about people finding out their no-money-down, interest-only, and option-ARM mortgages weren’t such a great deal, it’s refreshing to hear these pieces of advice about the fiscally conservative way to buy a house, via Moneycrashers:
By 10.4.07
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Federal employees wasted over $145 million in taxpayer dollars by bumping themselves up to first-class seats. [NYT via Rick Seaney]
By 10.4.07
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10 credit cards that give you fat airline mile bonuses for signing up. Also, 9 more that do the same, but have an annual fee. [FiveCentNickle]
By 10.3.07
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Perhaps New Yorkers will see a city-wide crackdown on identity theft, now that Mayor Bloomber’s identity has been stolen. Twice. [City Room]
AT&T Promises To Not Terminate Your Service For Criticizing Them
By 10.2.07
Yesterday we posted about how the AT&T DSL Terms of Service contain a clause that says AT&T can cancel your service if you “damage” their “reputation.” Today, AT&T PR bots reached out to some sites to say they would only do it if you were promoting violence or peddling child porn. Unfortunately, that’s not what’s in writing. What’s in writing is the nebulous “damage” of their “reputation.” So, AT&T subscribers, feel free to criticize away, until they change their mind.
8 Great Places To Travel On A Weak Dollar
By 10.2.07
The dollar has hit new lows, but fear not, thrifty globetrotters, there’s still countries with weaker currencies than ours. What they lack in fiscal might, they make up for in natural beauty and exotic locales.
4 Awesomest AT&T Cellphone Contract Clauses
By 10.1.07
Mouseprint scanned through AT&T’s cellphone contract and found some very interesting clauses and restrictions:
What To Do When Your Flight Is Cancelled
By 10.1.07
Itenarant IT consultant James Brockman was sitting outside gate 44 at Reagan airport, and after seeing a gaggle of travelers flip out over their canceled flight, decided to put together a flight cancellation primer based on his eight years of heavy air travel experience. One piece of advice, after getting in line for the gate ticket agent with a pen and paper in hand…
AT&T And Verizon Can Cancel Service Of Subscribers Who "Damage" Their "Reputation"
By 10.1.07
Criticizing AT&T DSL as a subscriber can result in them shutting down your service, according to their Terms of Service:
By 9.27.07
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“He lives cheap because: “Sooner or later they fire everybody.”” [Frugal For Life]
