Insurers embrace “virtual” doctor visits as possible solution to physician shortages
Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Tired of feeling “like the walking dead” but worried about the cost of a doctor’s visit, Amber Young sat on her bed near tears one recent Friday night in Woodbury, Minn. That’s when she logged onto an Internet site, run by NowClinic online care, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group (which also owns UnitedHealthcare), and “met” with a doctor in Texas. After talking with the physician via instant messaging and then by telephone, Young was diagnosed with an upper respiratory illness and prescribed an antibiotic that her husband picked up at a local pharmacy. The doctor’s “visit” cost $45. “I was as suspicious as anyone about getting treated over the computer,” [...] Continue Reading…
Energy Transfer Partners to buy Sunoco in $5.3 billlion deal
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Houston, TX, United States (AHN) – Dallas based Energy Transfer Partners LP, announced Monday it was buying Sunoco Inc for $5.3 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Sunocoshareholders will receive about $50.13 a share: $25 in cash and 0.5246 common units of Energy Transfer. Energy Transfer is paying a 23 percent premium over Sunoco’s closing prior prior to Monday’s announcement. The transaction will assist Energy Transfer Partners goal of diversifying the company’s pipeline network and the products it ships. The acquisition gives Energy Transfer Partners 4,900 Sunoco branded retail fueling station in the U.S., in addition to its 32.4 percent share of Sunoco Logistics Partners LP’s common units, enabling [...] Continue Reading…
Microloan demand grows in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite the risks
Gaza, Palestinian Territory (IRIN) – The demand for microloans has risen steeply in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent years, according to data from the Palestinian Network for Small and Microfinance (Sharakeh), which represents 11 microfinance non-profit institutions whose total loan portfolio was US$75 million by the end of 2011. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of active microloans in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose from 20,000 to more than 43,000. This trend is likely to continue, said Sharakeh, predicting that by 2015 the number of loans will reach 77,000. The number of active clients receiving loans from microfinance institutions has grown by an average of 27 percent annually since 2007, he added. [...] Continue Reading…
Employers tie financial rewards, penalties to health tests, lifestyle choices
United States (KaiserHealth) – Once a year, employees of the Swiss Village Retirement Community in Berne, Ind., have a checkup that will help determine how much they pay for health coverage. Those who don’t smoke, aren’t obese and whose blood pressure and cholesterol fall below specific levels get to shave as much as $2,000 off their annual health insurance deductible. Daryl Martin, 60, Swiss Village Executive Director, uses the chest press machine in the early morning hours at the Swiss Village Wellness Pavilion (Photo by William Rozier for USA Today/KHN). At Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate firm, workers can earn up to $300 in cash for having a physical and hitting certain medical goals, or [...] Continue Reading…
MasterCard warns of possible security breach
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Purchase, NY, United States (AHN) – Credit card giant MasterCard said Friday it is investigating a possible breach of cardholder data involving a U.S. based payment processor. In a statement, MasterCard said, “As a result we have altered payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk.” The Purchase, NY-based credit card company added that the company’s own “systems have not been compromised in any manner.” Law enforcement officials have been notified of the matter, and an “independent data security organization” is conducting an ongoing forensic review. A spokesman for MasterCard would not say how many cards may have been compromised or how many banks it has [...] Continue Reading…
Bernanke rejects return to gold standard
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Washington, D.C, United States (AHN) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke rejected a return to the gold standard saying that such a move would not solve the current economic problems. Bernanke made the comment Tuesday in the first of a series of four public lectures at George Washington University. He maintained that such a system would handicap the government’s ability to address economic conditions. “Since the gold standard determines the money supply, there is not much scope for the central bank to use monetary policy to stabilize the economy. Under a gold standard, typically the money supply goes up and interest rates go down in a period of strong economic activity—so that’s [...] Continue Reading…
European Central Bank leaves key interest rate unchanged
Linda Young – AHN News Writer
London, United Kingdom (AHN) – European Central Bank (ECB) officials left the benchmark interest rate of 1 percent unchanged. The bank has not changed the rate since November. The ECB has provided European banks with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of loan-interest loans in an effort to keep financial markets supplied with cheap cash. The ECB also has bought government bonds from countries such as Spain and Italy in an effort to help lower borrowing costs for governments within the troubled eurozone that have been hit by the sovereign debt crisis. ECB president Mario Draghi says that the strategy of loosening credit has improved the risk environment. However, the strategy [...] Continue Reading…
U.S. stocks open higher Wednesday on European optimism
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks rose on the open Wednesday after the European Central Bank said it will lend €529.5 billion ($721.4 billion) to European banks in an effort to avert a credit crunch. Just before 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 30 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 3 points and the NASDAQ rose 7 points. Investors were buoyed by the ECB’s second Long-Term Refinancing Operation in which banks will be able to borrow money for three years at interest rates as low as 1 percent. The move is the bank’s latest effort to prevent a credit crunch in [...] Continue Reading…
Clock ticking for Egypt’s finances
The Media Line Staff
Cairo, Egypt (The Media Line) – Egypt faces a risk-laden game of Beat the Clock as it tries to get its political house in order before its foreign currency reserves sink much more. Reserves fell to $16.4 billion in January from about $36 million a year earlier, a drop that economists all agree imperils the economy and requires Egypt to seek support from external sources and make difficult decisions to cut back government spending and subsidies. But that will be difficult given the political situation. Presidential elections are now scheduled for late May, preceded by a six-week election season. Meanwhile, a parliament dominated by Islamists is tussling over who will control the government with [...] Continue Reading…
Vrbata, Smith shine as Coyotes top Stars for third straight win
John Tranchina – AHN Sports Correspondent
Dallas, TX, United States (AHN Sports) – Radim Vrbata’s 25th goal of the season snapped a 1-1 tie late in the second period, and the Phoenix Coyotes added third period tallies by Raffi Torres and Derek Morris in the third to secure a crucial 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center. The win is the third in a row for the Coyotes and fourth in the last five games, despite the fact they were playing their third game in four nights. They gain two ultra-important points in the Western Conference playoff chase and moves from a 10th-place tie with Dallas into a tie with Minnesota for the [...] Continue Reading…
Lending News- Mortgage rates fall to new low–again
- Mortgage rates fall to record low
- Mortgage rates fall to record low
- Japan announced food aid to Nepal
- Fed leaves rates steady
- Microloan demand grows in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite the risks
- Big Banks Slack on Maintaining Foreclosed Homes in Minority Areas, Complaint Charges
- IMF aid becomes Egyptian political football
- Mortgage rates virtually unchanged in latest week
- In land of no loans, consumer debt mounts
- Personal Loans
- Realty Trac: foreclosures dropped to lowest level since 2007
- Bonded labor ensnares entire families
- Ally mortgage unit files bankruptcy
- Massachusetts Lawmakers Unveil Ambitious Plan To Cut Health Care Costs
- Ethnic minorities call for caution as sanctions ease
- Dubai’s bounced-check convicts go on strike
- Short sales up in housing market
- Short sales up in housing market
- Stocks slide Wednesday following Tuesday’s big gains
- Big Banks Slack on Maintaining Foreclosed Homes in Minority Areas, Complaint Charges
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- Loan news
- Plane with newly-inaugurated Hollande hit by lightning, trip to Germany delayed
- Mortgage rates fall to new low–again
- U.S. stocks tumble Tuesday over Greek woes
- Gingrich set to endorse rival Romney
- Thousands of Libyans still afraid to return home
- Costco to offer mortgages
- Bank of America sees profits drop
- Short sales up in housing market
- Mortgage rates decline in latest week
- Mortgage rates virtually unchanged in latest week
