Memo to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey: when much of your customer base consists of reusable-bag-using, wheatgrass-munching “progressive” types, it’s probably not such a good idea to publish an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal criticizing current health care reform proposals. At least if you don’t want said customers organizing boycotts of your stores.
health care
Collection Agency Sends Four Letters To Collect A $.04 Debt
By 8.15.09
Pete received a bill in the mail that has him slightly offended and amused. A health care provider has sent his balance to collections after a payment arrived late a few years ago. They will clearly be hurting if he doesn’t pay his overdue balance of ….four cents.
Free Health Care Receives Rock Star Reception In Los Angeles
By 8.13.09
The past few nights, thousands of people have lined up outside of the Forum in Los Angeles. a venue that usually hosts basketball games or big arena concerts. Who’s in town to attract such a crowd? Metallica? Green Day? No, even better—doctors and dentists providing free care on a first-come, first-served basis.
What Does Health Care Reform Mean For You?
By 8.10.09
The debate over health care reform has devolved into scaremongering with death panels and rationed care. What’s really going on, and what does it really mean for you and your family? Inside, the New York Times breaks down the competing bills…
Silly Consumer, Did You Think Your Prescription Info Was Private?
By 8.10.09
The NYT has the story of a woman who, more than 10 years after she tried and failed to have a baby using in vitro procedures, is still getting marketing information for all sorts of products. First it was Pampers and baby formula — then, as the baby she did not have “grew up,” so did the marketing offers. How did they get her information? They bought it.
Giving Birth And Covered By Health Insurance? $22,000, Please
By 8.5.09
The individual health insurance market can be a scary place for Americans who turn to it for health coverage. If they’re accepted to a plan at all, patients often find that their coverage isn’t quite what they were promised, and limits and restrictions lead to high medical bills for covered services that aren’t really covered.
Note To Seniors: Proposed Medicare Reform Does Not Include Plans To Kill You
By 8.5.09
Yesterday, Consumer Reports noted that an anti-health reform politician is trying to convince senior citizens that they’ll be required to take lessons in euthanasia if any reform is passed. Regardless of what side you come down on with health care reform, this is flat out wrong. We care about this lie, which is still bouncing around the media, because it might interfere with the very real and useful tasks of setting up living wills and determining health care proxies—things that matter to both the elderly and the terminally ill.
Cut Down On Medical Costs With These Tips
By 7.16.09
One way to cut down on all your medical costs is to go exclusively to Dr. Mario, an impersonator of whom is pictured.
By 7.15.09
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If you’re looking for a good read tonight, try curling up with a cup of herbal tea, some Nilla Wafers, and the PDF of the House Health Reform bill. (warning: opens extremely large PDF) If 1,018 pages is too much reading for tonight, you can look over this one-page PDF on the public insurance option included in the bill, or read first impressions from Consumers Union and the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein. [Consumer Reports Health]
Banks Consider Running TV Spots Against Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency
By 7.13.09
Remember Harry and Louise? I don’t, but apparently they were a fictional couple in an early-90s TV commercial, produced by the insurance industry to help sway opinion against the Clinton health plan. Now banks and other financial companies may be pooling resources to create a new “Harry and Louise” style ad to convince Americans that Obama’s proposed agency to monitor abusive financial practices will limit choice and ruin lives.
FDA May Take Vicodin And Percocet Off The Market
By 7.1.09
Bad news for Dr. Greg House and other, non-fictional chronic pain patients. The FDA advisory panel that met yesterday about the effects of excessive doses of acetaminophen made another recommendation to the FDA—to take popular painkillers Vicodin and Percocet (and their generic versions) off the market because of the effect both drugs can have on the liver when taken for extended periods. The FDA will most likely follow this recommendation.
Man Gets $10,000 Back From Insurance Company Thanks To Metafilter
By 6.22.09
We readily admit that there are places on the Internet other than Consumerist where one can harness the Internet hive mind to solve consumer issues. Ask Metafilter user Jason sought help when his former insurance company wouldn’t stop auto-billing him, and emerged victorious, collecting the $10,000 he was wrongly charged…plus interest!
Insurance Industry Still Wants To Cancel Sick People's Coverage
By 6.18.09
As the federal government debates health care reform, the health insurance industry has some news for us. They’re not going to stop canceling people’s policies after they get sick. Nope. No way.
By 6.10.09
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No health insurance? The emergency room usually shouldn’t be your first stop. Here’s where you should go for help.
Want Free Health Care? Visit Mexico City
By 6.9.09
Although the A/H1NI flu virus (referred to as the swine flu) outbreak didn’t kill everyone like alarmist media commentary led us to believe it would, it did deal a devastating blow to the Mexican tourism industry. The sprawling metropolis’s hotels are lonely places these days, sitting at 27 percent capacity compared to 50 percent a year ago.
Congress Considers Partially Removing Tax Exemption On Employer Provided Health Benefits
By 6.9.09
While details of such an approach are still sketchy, it would likely involve employees paying tax on a percentage of their employer-provided health benefits. So if Congress decided that all such premiums in excess of $11,000 for family plans would be taxable income, and your company paid premiums worth $16,000 for your coverage, you’d have to pay taxes on $5,000.
Most Bankruptcies Caused By Health Problems Suffered By People With Health Insurance
By 6.7.09
A recent Harvard study tells us that health problems cause more than half of America’s bankruptcies, and that the vast majority of people seeking bankruptcy protection have health insurance. The study paints a hauntingly familiar picture: people get sick, insurance covers nothing, so they’re forced to mortgage their homes to stay alive.
