Word: costlier
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...launched its reform in January. Its controversial centerpiece: a €10 Praxisgebühr, or quarterly fee every patient must pay on the first doctor's visit during that three-month period. The fee was widely attacked by doctors and patients alike as awkward and onerous. But along with costlier fees for unreferred visits to specialists, a larger patient share of drug costs and a stop to reimbursements for eyeglasses and dental prostheses, it has helped the country round the corner. Health Minister Ulla Schmidt announced this summer that for the first time in 10 years, Germany's public-health...
...pushing up the cost of labor and making companies reluctant to create new jobs. "Lots of countries are concerned that Europe is losing ground - and rightfully so," says Philippe Archinard, the chief executive of Innogenetics, a Belgian biotech company with 600 employees. He says doing business is so much costlier in Belgium that "gradually all R. and D. centers are going to go abroad." While individuals have a hard time escaping income taxes, companies can vote with their feet. The Austrian Business Agency - which deals with prospective foreign investors - says it has been inundated with inquiries after the government announced...
...predicts that "at least in the short term, the world could see global inflation because of what's happening in China." The unhappy knock-on effect: to keep inflation under control, central banks around the world might begin raising interest rates, which would shave corporate profits and make it costlier for individuals to borrow money...
...money and cutting into mobile network profits. How? Software called cordless telephony profile (ctp) allows business users and consumers to use Bluetooth-equipped cell phones to connect directly to the fixed-line network when they are in a Bluetooth-enabled zone. By so doing, they bypass the costlier mobile network and save big on their phone bills. Cost reductions are already being offered by Norwood Systems, a company in Richmond-upon Thames, England, which makes a wireless communications platform that allows wandering office workers to make telephone calls over the fixed network via Bluetooth headsets, for up to 60% less...
...moving away from sporadic deep discounting in favor of a permanent two-tier menu that keeps signature products like the Big Mac at the top, Mickey D's is following the model that Wendy's has successfully used to lure in penny-pinching customers and then sell them on costlier items. The problem with occasional promotions is that "you train customers to come only when there's a blue-light special," says Chris Clouser, global marketing officer at Burger King, which has launched a 99¢ value menu, backed up by an offbeat, Candid Camera-esque ad campaign that shows bemused...