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Young adults ages 19-29 are struggling to get the health care they need more than almost any other age group, demonstrating the need for Affordable Care Act provisions, some already in place, that will expand health insurance and make it more affordable, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. The report found that in 2010, 45 percent of young adults couldn’t afford the care they needed, meaning they didn’t fill a prescription, didn’t go to the doctor when they were sick, or skipped a test, treatment, or follow-up visit, up from 32 percent who went without needed care because of cost in 2001.

The Affordable Care Act is already making a difference for young adults. Full Post…

Bank customers who claim on insurance provided within packaged current accounts could end up losing their no-claims bonus on other policies.

Most paid-for bank accounts now offer consumers some form of home, travel or motor insurance as an add-on in return for the monthly fee charged for the account.

But for many customers, this insurance is useless. Often consumers have already taken out alternative, and more suitable, policies. This means they are needlessly doubling up their insurance, paying twice for inferior cover.

Not only are consumers paying for insurance they already have, but they could adversely impact both policies if they make a claim on one.

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Today, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final regulation to ensure that large health insurance premium increases will be thoroughly reviewed, and consumers will have access to clear information about those increases. Combined with other important protections from the Affordable Care Act, these new rules will help lower insurance costs by moderating premium hikes and provide consumers with greater value for their premium dollar. In 2011, this will mean rate increases of 10-percent or more must be reviewed by state or federal officials.

“Effective rate review works – it does so by protecting consumers from unreasonable rate increases and bringing needed transparency to the marketplace,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Full Post…

The personal finance section of FT.com was ‘highly commended’ as ‘Website of the Year’ at the Headline Money Awards for its coverage of consumer finance stories.

The judges said the FT’s website is a very well-judged online offering which continues to improve year-on-year.’,

Another said: “It’s a superior online offering to several of its rivals in this sphere and the add-on features such as its podcasts make it into a really strong proposition overall.”

FT.com/money was selected from a shortlist of national newspaper websites that included www.guardian.co.uk/money and www.telegraph.co.uk/personal finance

Josephine Cumbo, now FT Money’s pension writer was named ‘Protection Writer of the Year’ for her work on insurance throughout the year. Judges commended her fo

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Now that UK banks have agreed to set aside billions of pounds to pay back customers who were missold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), consumer groups say reclaiming money should be easier. Here are the key points to note when claiming:

? Is there any limit on compensation?

No, but claims made via the Financial Ombudsman can only be enforced up to £100,000.

? How far back can I go with my complaint?

The rule of thumb is that providers will look into policies sold up to six years ago, or policies sold up to 10 years ago to customers who were only made aware of the problem three years ago.

But, as PPI is known to have been widely missold, anyone who started a policy before 2005 could still have a claim.

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