The Affordable Care Act is designed to forbid it, but health insurers are finding a new way to extract money from policy holders with pre-existing conditions–by steering them to more expensive drugs.
us business
1 in 6 Big Businesses Planning to Offer “Junk” Health Insurance Below ACA Standards
Many thought such low-benefit “skinny plans” would be history once the health law was implemented. Instead, 16 percent of large employers will offer lower-benefit coverage along with at least one health plan that does qualify under ACA standards.
Why Obtaining Your Own Medical Records May Now Cost You a Small Fortune
For-profit companies in the new “release of information” or “disclosure-management” industry now charge $1 a page, in paper or digital format, for what used to be free, while the Florida Board of Medicine is looking to make the $1-a-page standard for all.
Obama as Worst President Since 1945, Pains of Being a Black Gun Owner, Target’s Gun Ban, Killing Civil Rights
A new poll finds a third of Americans rating Obama the worst president since World War II and Reagan the best, Target finally bans guns from its stores, how the Civil Rights Act could never pass today, Huckleberry Finn’s censors, and more.
Domestic Spying: How Marketers’ Tracking of Your Web History Is Getting Creepier–Offline
Online marketers are increasingly seeking to track users offline, as well, by collecting data about people’s offline habits—such as recent purchases, where you live, how many kids you have, and what kind of car you drive.
Permanent Temp Workers in the U.S. Are at the Mercy of Some of the Weakest Labor-Protection Laws in the West
“Permatemping’ cases highlight a lack of U.S. protections for temp workers., who are exposed to more dangers in return for far less job protection or benefits. Other countries limit the length of temp jobs, guarantee equal pay and restrict dangerous work.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1939
President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date of Thanksgiving in 1939, moving it up a week, to accommodate merchants and business still reeling from the Depression. The full text of FDR’s proclamation issued on October 31, 1939.
How Bank of America Regularly Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures
Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees.
Publix’s Profitable Accommodation With Poverty: Not a Penny More for Tomato Pickers
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has been trying for years to get Publix to join the Fair Food Coalition, in which suppliers and purchasers agree to pay the workers a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked. Publix won’t even meet with the workers.
Obama’s Inauguration Sells Out
President Barack Obama, reversing his own honorable precedent for his first inaugural, has chosen this time to have corporations pay for his second round of big shindigs. This multimillion-dollar infusion of corporate cash is a crass intrusion by favor-seeking private interests into what ought to be a purely public occasion.