Author Archive

Adderall Addiction

September 15th, 2009. By janem

The website collegeTips.com advertises Adderall for sale without a prescription, and Online-Pharmacy sells “Adderall No Prescription Needed Buy Cheap”, just to name a few online sites. Turns out that Adderall, a stimulant medication used in the treatment of attention deficit disorder (ADD) in both children and adults, is also wildly popular among college students.

One dose of Adderall is “good to go” for a  child with ADD; one pill can last for about six hours per dose, so it can cover the entire school day. And that’s a great selling point for the drug company.

The drug company has also observed some side effects, such as  loss of appetite—but it also says not to worry, just “feed a protein shake twice a day to help keep weight up”. It also notes “some irritability or anger (as when you have had too much caffeine) and possible short term growth inhibition (though long-term this may not be a problem).” Note the “may not be a problem” part. Why on earth would you give your kid this drug and maybe stunt his growth, protein shake aside? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adderall
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Bad Faith Insurance Companies in Denial

September 8th, 2009. By janem

Last month Michigan voted to pass legislation that will keep them up to speed with 46 other states regarding bad faith insurance practices. Consumers will be protected from unfair and abusive insurance company practices by creating penalties for insurance companies that deny policyholders’ rightful claims, while holding CEOs and other corporate leaders accountable for boosting profits at the expense of consumers.

The plan is twofold: to protect consumers and whistleblowers–the insiders who can’t sleep at night knowing the companies they work for deny or delay legitimate insurance claims so that the company’s profits increase. According to Bloomberg News, whistleblower Jo Anne Katzman, a former claims adjuster with Allstate Insurance Company, said managers regularly threatened adjusters–they would lose their jobs if they didn’t deny enough claims. She also was ordered not to pay a claim she knew was valid. As well,  both Farmers Insurance and Allstate have employee incentive programs for adjusters who deny the most claims!

Naturally, insurance companies and their lobbying and public relations firms deny, deny. They launched radio attacks and automated phone calls against Michigan’s legislators who are trying to protect their residents against bad faith and wrongful denial insurance.

And bad faith bills have been introduced in 14 states and Washington, D.C., this year.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies applauded the non-profit American Legislative Exchange Council  (ALEC) when it adopted a resolution in opposition to insurance bad faith legislation. So smart ALEC (sorry, couldn’t help myself) retaliated by going on about the advancement of free market, limited government principles and plans to conduct a policy making program uniting members of the public and private sector, according to their website.

And here’s the doozy: Paul Tetrault, NAMIC state affairs manager and a member of ALEC’s Civil Justice Task Force, said in a statement that while bad faith bills are typically described in “favorable terms” by sponsors, the resolution recognizes that such bills hurt consumers through increasing costs ultimately borne by policyholders… The resolution also stresses the way in which the threat of excessive bad faith liability can interfere with the proper functioning of the claims settlement process, hindering insurers’ ability to detect fraud, which can result in payment of meritless claims.”

Try telling that to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been denied legitimate claims.  Here are just a few cases that are considered bad faith insurance and practiced regularly by many insurance companies:

1. The insurance company does not investigate a claim in a prompt and timely manner.
2. A settlement is not offered within a reasonable amount of time once the investigation is complete.
3. A delay in any payments concerning a settlement.
4. The insurance carrier has not informed you of additional benefits.
5. Any type of fraud or harassment during the investigation on the part of the insurance company.
6. Concealing any facts from the insured is cause for insurance bad faith.
7. Not following the regular procedures within the claims manual.
8. Altering any form of the insurance policy without the knowledge of the insured.
9. Threaten not to pay unless the insured conforms.
10. Failure to evaluate damages within a reasonable amount of time.

As consumers, we must oppose bills like the one ALEC has proposed.

Tags: Bad Faith Insurance
Posted in Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Aurora Dairy: Either Moo-ve Out of Organic Market or Comply with Standards

September 2nd, 2009. By janem

Most everyone knows that buying organic anything is pricier, including milk. And we know how difficult and expensive it is for family dairy farmers to convert their farms to organic.

The big guns have also jumped on the organic wagon– much to the dismay of small, indie farms because a national surplus of organic milk largely created by these factory farm dairies has been driving down prices paid to farmers. And what we didn’t know is that they aren’t all playing by the rules.

This week the Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog, filed a formal legal complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging that one of the five industrial-scale dairies operated by Aurora, its High Plains dairy near Kersey, Colorado, is failing to graze their dairy cattle as required by the federal organic standards.

According to Cornucopia Institute, Aurora is allegedly primarily confining their dairy cows in giant barns and pens instead of being allowed to graze on fresh forage, and exhibit their natural instinctive behaviors, as the federal law mandates. When the cows are let outside they often only have access to substandard crops that are planted on an annual basis, and wither in the desert-like heat, instead of more hardy perennials that stand up to continual grazing throughout the growing season.

In response to a previous legal complaint filed in 2006 by The Cornucopia Institute, the USDA found that Aurora was in violation of 14 tenets of the organic regulations including confining their cattle to feedlots, instead of grazing.

Wake up, USDA! If I were buying Aurora Dairy’s supposed organic milk, I’d want my Moo-ney back.

Tags: Aurora, Organic
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Judges and Senators Trump the Social Security Administration

September 1st, 2009. By janem

The DesMoinesRegister.com recently published a story about Todd Lindberg, a former truck driver with one amputated foot and not much left of the other foot (due to diabetes) who has lived 18 months in a storage garage. Of course he qualifies for social security disability benefits that would pay for decent accommodation and maybe some cash left over for groceries; instead he is one of about 736,000 people waiting way too long to have their claims processed. That’s an increase of more than 556,000 from last year due to a “massive backlog” of unresolved disability claims at the Social Security Administration.

(Currently 7.4 million Americans receive disability benefits with an average monthly check totaling $1,063.)

There’s an even sadder story: Last year, another truck driver died in the lobby of a Social Security office while waiting to be called into the office for a hearing on his three-year-old claim for benefits.

In its infinite wisdom, the Administration recently denied a 55-year-old woman benefits: she was born without a right hand. More recently, arthritis crippled her left hand. However, last month, U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt rejected the agency’s finding and ordered the disabled woman be paid benefits she first claimed five years ago. In another case, a judge ruled that the Social Security Administration had “relied on facts that were clearly erroneous” in denying a woman benefits who suffered from migraines.

Back to Lindberg: It took two and a half years for a judge to approve his application for federal disability benefits-only after U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin intervened. So what’s causing the holdup?

The Social Security Administration is notoriously denying claims. Is it their mandate?  In fact about two-thirds of claims for benefits are denied at the get-go, which leads to an appeals backlog. Fortunately most applicants who appeal eventually receive benefits but it can take months of going back and forth and oftentimes applicants are better off getting legal help: it’s less stressful and generally speeds up the process by not having to go through yet another denial and appeal.

Case in point:

Four years ago, Kara Schroeder of Iowa City was living out of a van in California and picking up her mail at a homeless shelter. The Social Security Administration mailed her a notice that she needed to see a doctor and verify that she was still disabled, but it was sent to the wrong address. Guess what? Her benefits were cut off…To make a long story short, Schroeder finally got reinstated with the help of a Legal Aid attorney but her problems continue…

Tags: Social Security
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Better or Worse? Avandia vs Actos Battle

August 31st, 2009. By janem

The Avandia/Actos battle has been making headlines since August 19 (BMJ.com) when a Canadian researcher suggested the oral diabetes treatment Actos is safer than Avandia. (Coincidentally, Takeda Canada announced a few days later that it reacquired the Canadian marketing rights for its Actos from Eli Lilly’s Canadian company. The drugmaker licensed the rights to Lilly under a worldwide agreement in 1999—financial arrangements were not disclosed.)

The similarities: Both Avandia and Actos belong to a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones, which are used widely to lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. In addition to an increased risk for heart failure, both drugs can also cause side effects that include weight gain and fluid retention. Both medications carry a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning and both meds run the same risk of heart attack.

The discrepancies: Researchers found that patients taking Avandia were at greater risk of Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Actos, Avandia
Posted in Drugs/Medical | No Comments »