As NPR reports, insurance decisions about which drugs to cover present patients and doctors with an unfair choice: pay exorbitant prices or settle for a medication that may not work right. Dropping drugs leaves patients in a bind and ignores the fact that different drugs work better for different patients. Why drop some drugs? Insurers say they are trying to […]
Author Archives: Scott Michelman
The FTC will conduct a week of events to raise awareness about the threat posed by tax identity theft, which (it notes) puts thousands of people at risk every year. Check out the schedule and related educational materials here.
Ars Technica asks this question amid concerns that the move may have motivated by contributions from the healthcare company whose poor track record prompted the drafting of standards in the first place: [A] 2014 medical review and a June 2015 report by CNN, which found that one particular medical facility, St. Mary’s Medical Center and Palm Beach […]
A slate of five candidates running for Harvard's governing board thinks Harvard's endowment is big enough that it can afford to great free tuition for all undergrads. The candidates — an interesting left-right alliance, including Ralph Nader on the left and four opponents of affirmative action on the right – also raise the concern that the current admission […]
The Times reported last week: With automakers and technology companies rushing to develop self-driving cars, the Obama administration on Thursday pledged to expedite regulatory guidelines for autonomous vehicles and invest in research to help bring them to market. … “We are bullish on autonomous vehicles,” [Transportation Secrecy Anthony] Foxx said. “The actions we are taking […]
Gerrymandering — the drawing of district lines for the purpose of giving one candidate or party an electoral advantage — dates back to the Founding. (It was named for Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later Vice President under James Madison.) It's alive and well today, and as President Obama pointed out […]
By age 67, you'll need 10 times your salary, according to one investment firm — a more aggressive target than it had previously recommended. The Post explains the details, here.
"The plaintiffs allege Uber misclassified them as independent contractors, effectively stripping them of rights such as business-expense reimbursements and gratuities," explains the L.A. Times. Read more here.
As NPR explains this morning, your chances of winning the $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot are 1000 times worse than picking a particular penny out of a stack the height of the Empire State Building.
The Post reports that some local police now calculate a person's "threat score" by combining information from social media, drone surveillance, and cameras. Read about it here.