Health Care, a Lesson in Pain

Health Care, a Lesson in Pain New York Times - United States Providing health insurance to the roughly 50 million people without it will cost something like $120 billion a year. President Obama has proposed $60 ... See all stories on this topic Bill Banning Gender Pricing in Health Insurance Advances in Sacramento KPBS - San Diego,CA,USA Insurance companies warn the measure could drive up costs for everyone. Group health insurance plans aren't allowed to charge women more than men. ... See all stories on this topic Health Care Reform Outlook Clear? Don't Count on It Washington Post - United States He is talking more about cutting costs for everyone who has insurance as he is about expanding access to those without. Obama also has avoided demonizing ... See all stories on this topic Senate Panel Debates Cap On Tax Exclusion For Health Care Wall Street Journal - USA By Patrick Yoest Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The issue of whether and how to tax health insurance benefits drew a strong reaction Tuesday ... See all stories on this topic Insurance Insiders See Downgrades Coming For Life Insurers Wall Street Journal - USA "Ratings agencies are under pressure because of how they rated in the past, to pay more attention to what is going on," said Ernie Csiszar, insurance ... See all stories on this topic State Insurance Regulators Say Health Care Reform Must Address Costs Insurance Journal - San Diego,CA,USA Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger stressed that any health ... See all stories on this topic msnbc.com Five single-payer protestors arrested msnbc.com - USA "We're tired of private insurance." Within a minute or so, a police officer escorted the protester out of the room and arrested them in the hallway. ... See all stories on this topic Michigan''s Top Court to Rule on Credit-Based Insurance Scoring Insurance News Net (press release) - Harrisburg,PA,USA The Michigan Supreme Court will determine whether the state may ban the use of credit-based insurance scoring in underwriting, addressing a four-year-old ... See all stories on this topic Reuters Senate eyes tax change to pay for health insurance Reuters - USA By Donna Smith WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts urged Congress on Tuesday to cut tax breaks for employer-sponsored health insurance as a way to help pay to ... See all stories on this topic Obama: Healthy Employees, Healthy Profits ABC News - USA The million dollar ads on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies are already here to scare people off a European system Their biggest ... See all stories on this topic

Small Cars Rate Poorly in New Crash Tests

When a Smart Fortwo collided with a Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan, in new crash tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the little Smart car went airborne and did what amounted to a pirouette. The news was not much better when the institute crashed a Honda Fit into a Honda Accord, and a Toyota Yaris into a Toyota Camry.

Officials at the institute, which is financed by the insurance industry, said people pretty much know they aren’t going to fare well if a Fortwo tangles with a Hummer. That’s why the organization used midsize cars in these tests — to show that very small cars will be the losers in crashes, even with slightly bigger vehicles.

The small cars were 2009 models that had earlier received ratings of “good” on the institute’s standard frontal offset crash tests (the organization rates on a scale of good, acceptable, marginal and poor). The results from the latest tests, however, were far different — so different, in fact, that the Fit, Fortwo and Yaris got “poor” ratings.

Intrusion into the Fit’s occupant compartment was “extensive,” officials said, which meant a high risk of leg injury. Also, the dummy’s head struck the steering wheel through the airbag.

After it struck the front of the C-Class, the Smart became airborne and turned around 450 degrees. There was excessive movement of the dummy during rebound and extensive intrusion into the space around the dummy from head to foot. The instrument panel and the steering wheel were shoved up and toward the dummy in the Smart.

The door of the Yaris was largely torn away. The driver’s seats in both the Yaris and Camry tipped forward, but only in the Yaris did the steering wheel move excessively. The heads of the dummies in both cars struck the steering wheels through the airbags, but only in the Yaris did the head injury measure rate a “poor.”