Word: out-of-pocket
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...with what you're measuring. The core Consumer Price Index (CPI), which the Fed chairman watches, is up only 1.5% (and could turn negative, the Fed warns), but it doesn't include volatile food and energy prices. The cost of services, which includes out-of-pocket expenses that you notice most, has risen nearly twice as much as the core CPI--2.8% in April over the year before. Car insurance rose 9%, consumer health premiums 8%, college tuition 7%. Altogether, services make up about 24% of household spending. Then there's housing, which accounts for 32% of spending. It rose...
...make a refi worthwhile, you generally need a new rate at least a half-point lower than your old rate. Remember: even though you may not have out-of-pocket expenses, a refinance involves costs, including origination fees and title searches, that typically total 1% to 2% of the mortgage. You can pay those expenses up front or through a higher loan amount or higher interest rate. No matter how you pay, if the monthly savings do not cover the expenses within three years, stick with your current loan...
Lowering out-of-pocket costs is a big draw for cross-border patients who can see doctors in Mexico. A typical Health Net co-payment that costs $15 in the U.S. will cost $5 with a Mexican provider, says Ana Andrade, an associate vice president for Health Net of California. But it's not all about economics. The plans' mostly Latino members are also attracted by doctors who speak Spanish and who generally spend more time consulting with patients than do their U.S. counterparts. "The service is warm and empathetic," says Eduardo Pesqueira, a director of economic development for Mexico...
...acceptance and adoption of these therapies. “Taking care of yourself in a spiritual way has become important to Americans,” Kaptchuk says. Studies published by researchers in Kaptchuk’s division have shown that in 1997 Americans spent an estimated $27 billion out-of-pocket on complementary care. By that same year, visits to non-traditional practitioners had increased nearly 50 percent from 1990, outnumbering visits to primary care medical doctors. Yet similar research shows that most Americans use complementary and alternative medicine in addition to and not instead of conventional medical care...
...more, growing numbers of businesses and consumers are abandoning HMOs. In California, the state that pioneered managed care, the percentage of people enrolled in HMOs has fallen below 50% for the first time in eight years. Most are moving toward costlier plans with higher premiums and more out-of-pocket expenses...