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For the first time in years, state lawmakers sided with homeowners at the expense of the insurance industry Sunday as they hammered out a massive hurricane-insurance overhaul that they promise will lower rates. The promised rate cuts of 5 percent to 25 percent -- varying from place to place and company to company -- are based largely on two measures: having the state shoulder an unprecedented $35 billion in insurance risk, and expanding state-run Citizens Property Insurance to compete with private companies in high-risk areas. Citizens customers, who live mostly along the coast and largely in South Florida, will see the smallest savings, from 5 percent to 20 percent, compared to their 2006 rates. But lawmakers won't and can't guarantee that it all will work.
Bunco fans on a roll for charity
She's been playing the dice game of chance since 1991, mainly with a group of fellow teachers from Heights Elementary School in Texas City. On Saturday, she was wearing a denim jacket encrusted with lavender and white rhinestones depicting the three dice used in the game, "Let 'Em Roll" embroidered in purple thread beneath. "It doesn't take talent, it doesn't take skill," Coburn said. "It's just a lot of fun, and you meet a lot of people." Coburn and her husband, David, were in San Antonio for more than just bunco fun. As players in the regional Bunco Charity Challenge, they were also playing for a good cause, the National Breast Cancer Foundation. .
Simple steps give quick relief from high prescription costs
It's no secret that prescription drugs can be very expensive. But you're not necessarily stuck paying the high prices.
That's important to know, given that more people are paying for large parts of their medical insurance nowadays. But even people with prescription-drug coverage can lower their spending on co-payments for medications.
The cost savings can be dramatic.
One recent study showed that instead of paying about $140 for 100 doses of cardiovascular drug Tenormin, you could instead pay $5.65. Instead of paying near $500 for 100 doses of heartburn drug Nexium, you could pay about $62. Those examples, achieved through a variety of techniques outlined below, were included in a November study, "Shopping For Drugs: 2007," by health economist Devon Herrick of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank in Washington.
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