Ryan writes:
“Hi, I’ve experienced a electrical failure on my property last week resulting in the loss of use of my home as well as many electric devices (appliances, heat, water pump). The day I filed the claim I was told by two people at Liberty Mutual that a person from their emergency department would contact me the same day because of my situation (having an elderly person in the household) and my claim handler would call me the next day.
Fertility treatment is crazy expensive and there are no guarantees, but a recent NIH-sponsored study “concluded that women who were fast-tracked to IVF [in vitro fertilization] got pregnant three months faster on average, and spent $10,000 less than those who went through the usual preliminaries.” The conclusion: it may not be wise for insurers to require women to run the gauntlet of other treatments before trying IVF.
Don’t set up an irrevocable funeral trust through your insurance company, says MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe.
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A whisteblower lawsuit by a former employee alleges that Medicare and Medicard are being defrauded for millions of dollars by a complex three-card-monte scheme perpetrated by hospitals and group purchasing programs. [NYT] ]
The institute’s tests are tougher than those run by the federal government, and automakers often make changes in the vehicles and pay the institute to re-run its tests to garner better scores for advertising. General Motors Corp. altered the side air bags in its 2008 Saturn Vue to earn a top pick after they failed to deploy correctly in the first test.
A dentist, Dr. Trusty, was drilling on a patient and dancing to the tune “Car Wash” on the radio, when the drill bit snapped off and got caught near her eye. The doctor then tried to use a metal hook to get it out but only drove it further into the sinus and bone, according to the lawsuit. Trusty told the patient that she would probably sneeze the bit out. Doctors later said that if she had, she would have likely become blind in one eye. The patient is now suing Dr. Trusty for $600,000 in medical expenses, pain, and suffering.
Pfizer is in panic mode about its rapid decline in Lipitor sales—in the last 18 months, it has dropped from 40% of the market for cholesterol-lowering drugs to 30%, and likely to drop further—so it’s launched a big media-blitz to convince people not to switch to simvastatin, the generic version of its name-brand competitor, Zocor. Zocor was more expensive than Lipitor, so Pfizer had nothing to worry about for years—but then Zocor lost its patent protection last year, and now doctors are switching patients from Lipitor over to Zocor’s generic twin to save money.
Nothing says “I love you, Mom,” like some more medicine for her diabetes, or “You’re the best, Dad,” like a refill of nitro tablets. That’s why the health insurance company Highmark is offering new Healthcare Visa Gift Cards—for about $5 plus an unspecified shipping and handling fee, you can load it with anywhere from $25 to $5,000 to be used exclusively on medical expenses. After the first 9 months, the card emerges from the womb of “I already paid for this!” and starts charging you a monthly $1.50 maintenance fee. Won’t your kid be excited come Christmas morning when she finds out her staph infection is going to get treated?!
Seniors need to start comparison shopping now for their Medicare benefits. Enrollment begins November 15 and researchers say that beneficiaries in the most popular plans could see their monthly premiums lurch up 21%. Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, recommends,
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Medicare is confusing, but you should understand it a lot better after you peruse all the manuals and training materials the outsourced 1-800-MEDICARE call center has posted online for their phone reps! [CMS]
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Blue Shield lies to popular political blogger, his wife, and anesthesiologist, to avoid paying fully for an epidural. [Daily Kos]
Speaking of disasters, our resident claims adjuster wants to remind everyone,
….the insurance company is not at fault if someone doesn’t obtain the full value of their home from insurance. Knowing the value of owned property, and properly insuring that for the correct value is the responsibility of nobody but the insured.
As health care costs continue to soar (medical insurance premiums alone are expected to rise an average of 8.7 percent this year), Americans continue to look for ways to afford medical insurance and to pay the increasing costs of medical treatment.
Remember how Progressive got caught infiltrating a church support group and secretly recording it in hopes of discrediting two of its members involved in an insurance claim? And then their CEO posted a public apology, calling the incident “apalling?” Well, now, in defending itself against the lawsuit filed by the people whose privacy was breached, Progressive is calling its actions “reasonable.” Progressive must be some kind of special alchemist to brew a concoction both “appalling” and “reasonable” at the same time.
NYT reports that insurance companies are convinced that a hurricane is going to hit the Northeast. A Katrina level one. They’re systematically denying all new home insurance policies. Also, they’re canceling policies for long-standing clients. Well not exactly canceling, per se, nonrenewed. When the policy expires, people are getting letters informing their policy has been nonrenewed. Sounds so much nicer that way. People have been able to get insurance with other companies, both major and smaller, but the rates and deductibles are higher, even though the water and wind still has yet to be.
The NYT read the Consumers Union’s, “A Consumer Guide to Handling Disputes With Your Employer or Private Health Plan,” and here’s their distillation of how you can avoid out of pocket expenses and frustration by making sure you know the following:
Part of 
