Current Events in January 2014

Stemvida International Corporation of Ontario, Calif., is recalling StemAlive 90 Capsules.

The capsules contain milk, an allergen not declared on the label.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

The capsules come in a white plastic bottle with white lid, the brand is StemVida International with a white and gold label. The lot numbers and expiration dates are:

• 8419 (Exp.05/2015 and 06/2015);
• 8486 (Exp.07/2015);
• 8535 (Exp. 08/2015);
• 8598 (Exp. 10/2015);
• 8652 (Exp. 12/2015);
• 8863 (Exp. 01/2016 and 02/2016);
• 8872 (Exp. 03/2016);
• 8873 (Exp. 04/2016 and 05/2016);
• 9040 (Exp. 08/2016 and 09/2016);
• 9258 (Exp. 10/2016); and
• 9314 (Exp. 11/2016).

The lot number and expiration date is printed in black ink at the bottom of the label.

StemAlive was distributed in the following states:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• New Jersey
• New York
• Nevada
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Utah

Consumers who have purchased StemAlive 90 Capsules are urged to return the product to the company for replacement or refund.

Consumers with questions may contact the company at 888-950-8432 between 9:00am and 8:30pm PST.

Arctic Cat is recalling about 264 Arctic Cat snowmobiles

Fuel can leak from the fuel tank, posing a fire hazard.

No incidents or injuries have been reported.

This recall involves model year 2014 Arctic Cat 500 Sno Pro snowmobiles with model numbers S2014ACCPRUSG and S2014ACCPRPVG. The snowmobiles are green with SNO PRO, TEAM ARCTIC, and 500 printed on the front sides of the snowmobile. The name ARCTIC CAT is printed on the rear sides of the snowmobile. The model number is located in the owner’s manual.

The snowmobiles, manufactured in the U.S., were sold at Arctic Cat dealers nationwide from September 2013, to January 2014, for between $7,800 and $9,000.

Consumers should stop using the recalled snowmobiles immediately and contact an Arctic Cat dealer to schedule a free repair. Arctic Cat is contacting its customers directly.

Consumers may contact Arctic Cat at (800) 279-6851 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

American Honda Motor Company of Torrance, Calif., is recalling about 24,000 walk-behind 21” lawnmowers in the U.S. and Canada.

The engine stop switch can malfunction allowing the blade to continue to rotate after the handlebar blade control lever is released, posing a laceration hazard.

Honda has received 11 reports of the lawnmower’s blade continuing to rotate after the handlebar control lever was released. No injuries were reported.

This recall involves two Honda models and one Columbia brand electric start lawnmowers with Honda engines and 21” cutting blades. The Honda lawnmowers are red and silver (HRR) and red and gray (HRX). Both have “Honda” on the engine cover. The model and serial numbers are located on the certification label that is affixed to the cutter housing deck behind the engine. Honda recalled lawnmowers are:

The Columbia brand lawnmower, model number 12ALD33Q897, comes in orange and black. “Honda” is printed on the engine cover. The Honda engine serial number is located on a label on the back of the engine. It is also stamped into the engine block adjacent to the oil filler cap/dipstick. A range of affected Honda engines installed in Columbia brand lawnmowers sold in the U.S. follows:

The Honda brand lawnmowers were sold at Honda Power Equipment dealers and Home Depot stores nationwide from January 2013, through December 2013, for between $580 and $780.

Columbia brand lawnmowers were sold at Beaver Valley Supply, Denver, Colo; Lawn Equipment Parts Co, Inc., Marietta, Penn. and at Smiths South-Central Sales Co., Spring Hill, La. from January 2013, through December 2013, for $500.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled lawnmowers. Honda model owners should contact a Honda Power Equipment dealer to schedule a free repair. Columbia model owners should contact a Honda Engine dealer to schedule a free repair. American Honda is contacting all registered customers directly.

Consumers may contact American Honda toll-free at (888) 888-3139 from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. For Columbia brand lawnmowers see www.engines.honda.com and click on Recalls/Updates.

Millions of taxpayers don't dread filing their income tax returns. They might if they owe extra tax, but in most cases taxpayers have over-paid and are due a refund. The sooner they get it, the better.

While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) isn't in a position to accept your return before January 31, the agency says there is something you can do now to get ready and perhaps speed your refund – select one of 14 free brand-name tax-filing software products at IRS.gov/freefile.

You can then go ahead and complete your tax return online. The Free File companies will hold it until January 31, when they will file it with the IRS.

Tax preparers also getting started

“Many tax preparers and tax software companies are now open for return preparation, including Free File,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “If you plan to get a head start on your taxes, remember to e-file. If you want to save money and time, just use Free File to prepare and e-file your federal return at no charge.”

January 31 is the earliest the IRS can accept a return because the agency is conducting a number of system checks. As that date approaches Koskinen said taxpayers should use the time to get prepared. He says the IRS is a good source of helpful information.

“Free File is just one of the many services available through IRS.gov to help people with their taxes,” Koskinen said. “Additional services include Where’s My Refund for timely updates on refunds, YouTube videos with quick tax tips, and many other ways of getting information. We encourage taxpayers to explore IRS.gov as tax season approaches.”

Video tutorials

Among the YouTube videos on the site is this one, offering tips for choosing a tax preparer.

For those who normally do their taxes themselves, Free File is a no-cost way to do your federal tax returns either by using brand-name software or tax forms you can fill out online. The Free File software is available now to more than 100 million individuals and families that earn $58,000 or less. That's about 70% of taxpayers.

The IRS says nearly 40 million taxpayers have used Free File since it was introduced in 2003. The agency estimates these taxpayers have saved more than an estimated $1.2 billion by using the free tool.

How to use it

According to the IRS, it's simple to use. At IRS.gov/freefile, select the “Free File Software” button. Your choices of software will be determined in large part by your income, state residency and age. If your income is $58,000 or less, there should be at least one software you can use.

Want to see some reviews before selecting one? Simply select the “Help Me Find Free File Software” tool. After making your selection you'll be directed to the software company's website to begin preparing your return.

Fillable forms

What if your income is over $58,000? You can still file electronically using the IRS' online fillable forms. Instead of filling out the paper forms you can call up the appropriate tax forms on your screen, using your keyboard to fill in the data.

This service is available starting January 31. Once you complete and review your forms, you can then submit them electronically to the IRS.

This option also helps with math but not with step-by-step assistance that the commercial software programs provide. Instructions for filling out the form can be found on the IRS website. State tax return preparation is not available using this option.

Filing electronically will help speed up your refund but so will using direct deposit. Doing both will put you near the head of the line. Once the IRS begins processing returns, it expects to issue more than 90% of refunds in fewer than 21 days.

Amazon lets no grass grow under its customers' feet. Its one-click shopping eliminates the tedious shopping-cart procedure that most other e-commerce sites cling to and its delivery times continue to shrink towards same-day.

But that's not quite fast enough, as Amazon sees it. Next up is "anticipatory shipping" -- newly-patented by Amazon. The patent application was filed in 2012 and granted on Dec. 24 last year.

Amazon hasn't said much publicly about it but the idea is that its software already has a pretty good idea of your interests, shopping patterns and most recent browsing behavior. It's not too much of a leap from there to predict what you may be buying in the next day or two.

Been staring at that Acer Ultrabook? Amazon wants to start it rolling so that it's as close as possible to -- and maybe even on -- your doorstep when you finally get the nerve to hit the "buy" button.  

It goes a bit beyond that, actually. The patent also speaks of refinements to Amazon's inventory system. It doesn't just want to speed up delivery, it wants to be sure it doesn't run out of the items its customers appear just about ready to buy.

This is not really so unusual.

After all, retailers already engage in trying to read the minds of their customers. You think Walmart stocks all those beer coolers just before football season because it thinks they're attractive and will make their stores look more festive? 

Obviously, there are pitfalls in this but there are also pitfalls in not being able to fulfill customers' wishes quickly. So it may just be that Amazon is once again several steps ahead of its competitors, with or without those drones everyone was droning on about a few weeks ago.

Stockholders and CEOs may not like it when their businesses face competition, but consumers almost always benefit. So even if you're not a fan of Dr. Dre the hip-hop artist, you should be glad that Dr. Dre the businessman introduced Beats Music to the online streaming music streaming field.

Beats by Dre started out as a company offering physical merchandise, mostly headphones, earbuds and other personal audio paraphernalia. Only on Jan. 21 did Beats Music branch out into the more ethereal realm of selling online streaming music subscriptions.

Meanwhile, companies like Spotify are doing the exact opposite: as of Jan. 20, Spotify expanded its offerings beyond music streaming to offer T-shirts, vinyl records and other physical merchandise related to its various artists.

Unlike most online streaming services, Beats offers no ad-supported free-to-the-end-user option; a Beats subscription will cost you $9.95 per month. Spotify promptly responded by offering unlimited, free (though ad-supported) mobile streaming.

Genres

A word, here, about the various types of online streaming music options. Spotify and Beats let you play music on demand — they have songs available, you pick which ones you want to listen to, and when. Services like iTunes radio and Pandora have more in common with traditional non-satellite broadcast radio: you can choose from a variety of stations (“playlists”) dedicated to the genre of your choice – rock and roll; rhythm and blues; country/western, Top 40 – but you have no say over which specific songs a given station plays when you listen to it.

However, the iTunes radio and Pandora differ from traditional radio because the latter is not personalized – when you're listening to your local Top 40 station, for example, you hear the exact same songs as everyone else tuned in to that station at that time.

And, of course, even personalized on-demand services do more than merely play back the songs of your choice; they also have algorithms to suggest other forms of music you might like, based on your previous choices.

The various music services do share one problem more in common with old-school cable or broadcast TV networks rather than radio stations: in some cases, the works of various artists can only be had through a given company.

Going back to the traditional radio analogy: if you want to hear the latest song by your favorite Top 40 singer, her music is probably on the playlist of every Top 40 radio station in the country. But if you want to watch the latest episode of your favorite TV show, usually only one network has the right to air it — so if you don't get that network, you're out of luck.

When a USAToday tech blogger did a pros-and-cons rundown of current streaming services, for example, he noted that Spotify is the only platform offering on-demand streaming of Led Zeppelin's music library.

(This illustrates yet another way streaming radio differs from the old-fashioned variety: any rock fan old enough to remember pre-Internet radio knows that not only did every rock station in America keep the complete works of Zeppelin in its library; each one played Stairway to Heaven at least 40 times a day. It wasn't an FCC requirement or anything; they all just did it. Nobody knows why.)

This article is to correct a huge mistake/misunderstanding I printed in a previous piece — and never have I been so glad to report myself wrong.

At Christmas I told you how I tried buying my young niece a necklace-watch on eBay and had a bad time of it. Short version is: the seller initially sent the wrong timepiece — a man's wristwatch that wouldn't possibly work as a little girl's present — and when I tried arranging either an exchange or a refund, the seller spent a week attempting to convince me to settle for the man's bracelet I received in lieu of the girl's necklace I actually wanted.

I found these attempts even more infuriating after discovering that the wristwatch could be had elsewhere on eBay for less than one-fourth what I paid for the necklace. And to top it all off, when I tried buying similar-or-identical necklaces from various different sellers, I repeatedly got a pop-up message I'd never before seen in the ten-plus years I've had an eBay account. “Buying more items from this seller?” it asked, before telling me I had to add the items to my “cart” if I wanted to combine the order for discount purposes.

What the heck? I thought. The disputed necklace watch I'd already paid for was the only eBay activity I had going on, and I wasn't trying to buy an “additional” necklace from that seller, but a new watch from a completely different seller — or are they different sellers, all these Chinese eBay stores selling the same mass-produced watches?

So I used both my private-customer and my professional-journalist emails to ask eBay about this — are all these sellers the same? And how long should I (or any other customer) keep repeating my request for a refund or exchange before filing an official formal complaint?

No response from eBay or the seller before presstime, and no gift-worthy watch received in time for Christmas, either.

The next chapter ...

But here's what happened after I wrote the story: a day or so later, after I'd made a couple more repetitions of “I want the necklace or a full refund, nothing else,” the seller refunded my money through PayPal. More importantly, several readers who regularly used eBay emailed to let me know I'd misread the “Buy it Now” message, which (they say) is a fairly recent innovation that appears anytime a customer tries to “Buy [whatever] Now.”

(Personal note: I'll buy something off eBay only a handful of times every year, and I got no such pop-up the last time I got something via “Buy It Now”-- but I have no idea how long ago that was, either.)

At any rate, once I got my refund I had no other eBay auctions active, and thus went several days without bothering to check the private email account I use solely for eBay purposes. When I did I found two messages: one from the watch seller apologizing for my bad experience and assuring me that she was an independent seller not connected with any other eBay watch vendors, and one from eBay's office of the president expressing deep concern over my “disappointing experience.”

Point is, my previous article mentioned “How the secret eBay watch monopoly ruined Christmas,” when it should have read “How one eBay seller plus bad timing ruined Christmas,” because there is (thankfully, for fans of inexpensive steampunk timepieces) no eBay watch monopoly, secret or otherwise – when eBay asks “Buying more items from this seller?” it's not trying to confirm what you've already done; it's urging you to buy more.

Not all one

So I owe an apology to all eBay sellers, named and unnamed, who are based in China and sell mass-produced watches: no, despite my misreading of eBay's pop-up, you most assuredly are not all different faces of the same company, and I'm genuinely sorry for my mistake in saying otherwise.

Granted, there's lots of overlap in the merchandise offered by each respective seller, for the same reason there's overlap in the merchandise sold in most brick-and-mortar American grocery chains, or anything else: multiple businesses buy their products from the same manufacturers or middlemen.

Definitely a relief, for those of us who may have given up selling on eBay for various reasons, but still like buying oddball things there once in awhile.  (This is not meant to be an endorsement of buying oddball things, especially not windup mechanical watches in an era when chances are you already have vastly more accurate timekeepers on your cell phone and computer anyway.)

Is your infrastructure struggling? It must be, judging from the bipartisan chorus now tuning up in Congress to support what's being called an "infrastructure bank" -- a fund to build and repair roads, bridges and so forth.

Out-of-work politicos like former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, ex-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and onetime Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell are all co-chairs of something called Building America's Future, which is lobbying -- oops, make that advocating -- for a sounder footing for the nation's cars, trains and airplanes. 

Concrete and asphalt are something every public figure gets to know a lot about, after all. It's not like this complicated climate change, immigration policy or NSA snooping. And voters tend to be in favor of road, rail and airport improvements, as long as they're not in their backyard and someone else pays for them.

Big leap forward

In the Senate, Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) are introducing a bill that they say would "jumpstart our nation’s capability to build and repair roads, bridges, highways, ports, schools, and other infrastructure projects."

"Without spending overstretched federal dollars, the Partnership to Build America Act will help put people back to work building projects across the country, while helping to improve U.S. competitiveness in the 21st century global economy," a release from Warner's office said. "It establishes a $50 billion infrastructure fund that can potentially support hundreds of billions in loan guarantees and financing authority for state and local governments."

This is one of those "public-private" bills that are presented as saving taxpayer dollars. It would encourage U.S. companies buy bonds to fund transportation projects and would let them "exclude a certain portion of their overseas earnings from taxation." Cut their taxes, in other words, while supposedly not increasing the taxes paid by the rest of us. 

The fund would make low-cost loans to state and local governments to help them keep their bridges above water, their roads paved and so forth -- all the dreary pothole stuff that sounds a lot spiffier if you call it "infrastructure."

The American Society of Civil Engineers -- a group of people who make their living engineering infrastructure projects -- gave America’s infrastructure a D+ on its 2013 report card. Estimates of how much investment is needed to repair and rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure reach as high as $2 trillion over the next two decades.

Ford Motor Company is recalling 4,532 model year 2011 Ford E-150, E-250, E-350, and E-450 vehicles built from May 12, 2011, through May 26, 2011.

Due to improper manufacturing conditions, some of the windshields may form bubbles after an extended time in hot temperatures. The presence of bubbles may hinder driver's visibility thereby increasing the risk of a crash.

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the windshield if bubbles are present, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on, or about, January 27, 2014.

Owners may contact the Ford customer relationship center at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's recall campaign number is 11C20.

European Meat Products of Lakewood, Colo., is recalling approximately 130,000 pounds of fresh and ready-to-eat beef and pork products. The products contain wheat, an allergen which is not declared on the labels.

There are no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The products subject to recall include:

• 16 oz. - vacuum pack plastic bags of “Bo Vien, Huong Duyen – Cooked Beef Meat Balls”
• 100 oz. - vacuum pack plastic bags of “Bo Vien, Huong Duyen – Cooked Beef Meat Balls”
• 16 oz. – vacuum pack plastic bags of “Cha Chien, Huong Duyen – Pork Meat Roll Browned in Soy Bean Oil”
• 16 oz. - plastic tubs of “Moc TUOi, Huong Duyen– Fresh Pork Paste”
• 16 oz. - vacuum pack plastic bags of “Gio-Lua, Huong Duyen – Pork Meat Roll”
• 32 oz. - vacuum pack plastic bags of “Gio-Lua, Huong Duyen – Pork Meat Roll”

The products bear the establishment number “EST. 7725” inside the USDA Mark of Inspection. The recalled products were produced prior to January 17, 2014, and were shipped to distributors, restaurants and retail establishments in California, Colorado and Illinois.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Phong Tong, a company executive, at (303) 233-3111.

Nissan North America is recalling 183 2014 model year Titan King Cab and Crew Cab pick-up trucks manufactured August 27, 2013, through November 13, 2013.

In the affected vehicles, the Tire and Loading Information label overstates the maximum load and passenger carrying capacity of the vehicle. If the vehicle is loaded to the capacity stated on the incorrect label, and the tire load capacity is exceeded, the vehicle may experience structural damage to the tire. If this occurs, this may lead to tire failure which could increase the risk of a crash.

Nissan will notify owners and will provide owners with a correct label to install, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on January 21, 2014.

Owners may contact Nissan at 1-800-647-7261.

Cloverdale Foods of Mandan, N.D., is recalling approximately 2,664 pounds of beef franks. The products were formulated with milk, a known allergen that is not declared on the product label.

There are no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The following products are subject to recall:

• 16-oz. packages of Cloverdale Meats “Seattle Mariners Beef Franks.”
• 12 lb. cases containing 12 packages of individual 16-oz. packages of Cloverdale Meats “Seattle Mariners Beef Franks.”

The products were produced on November 23 and December 13, 2013, with use-by dates of February 21 and March 13, 2014 respectively. These products, bearing the package code Use by 2-21-14 or Use by 3-13-14 and the establishment number “Est. 7603” inside the mark of inspection, were sold to retail establishments in Montana, North Dakota and Washington State.

Consumers with questions may contact Scott Russell at (701) 663-9511, extension 224.

There has always been a certain tension between businesses and consumers. What has been good for one has not always been particularly good for the other.

For example, if a business can preserve and expand its profit margin on the things it sells it is usually more profitable, a good thing for the company and its stockholders. But high margins mean fewer sales and discounts – bad for consumers.

For a long time it seems businesses have maintained the upper hand in this relationship but the tables appear to be turning in favor of the consumer, and the Internet – which has emerged as a powerful tool for communication and commerce – may be the reason. The latest evidence may be found in the most recent holiday sales.

More online shopping

A report by the Wall Street Journal found in-store traffic during November and December was down sharply from the 2010 holiday shopping season – about 50% lower. Since the economy was much stronger in 2013 than 2010, a year after the end of the Great Recession, that shouldn't be. 

Consumers were still spending money, however. They just weren't spending it in retail stores.

Economists saw the same thing happen in 2012. On Black Friday in-store sales dipped slightly. However Black Friday online sales jumped 26%. In 2013 that trend continued.

CardinalCommerce, a payment system for retailers, says there was a record number of online transactions during the 2013 holiday shopping season, an increase of 46% over 2012. On Cyber Monday, consumers spent $2.29 billion, making it the biggest sales day in e-commerce history, according to the Custora Pulse, an annual holiday benchmark report.

New records

Cyber Monday's overall online shopping numbers marked a 16% increase from 2012. Online sales broke all-time records each of the five days from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday in 2013.

With so many transactions occurring online, fewer were taking place in stores. Retailers like Target and Walmart, with a strong online presence, were able to make up for their lost in-store revenue. Stores without a strong web presence were the big holiday losers.

The real winners, one can argue, are consumers who can quickly shop for the best price on a particular item and then buy it, without ever leaving the house. In the past shoppers had to go from store to store to find what they wanted, and didn't always get the best price.

UPS meltdown

Lest anyone doubt the shift from in-store sales to e-commerce, just look at what happened to United Parcel Service (UPS) in the last week before Christmas. UPS acknowledged that it was overwhelmed by unexpected volume but that explanation didn't sit well with consumers, who said the company should have stopped guaranteeing next-day delivery if it couldn't deliver. One driver quoted by USA Today said it had been the "worst Christmas ever."

Worst Christmas for UPS, perhaps, but the best Christmas yet for online retailers. And undelivered presents aside, a win for consumers who were able to get more bang for their Christmas buck, thanks to the Internet.

The Internet has given consumers an advantage in other ways as well. In the last few years – especially since the explosion in mobile devices – deal and coupon sites have grown in popularity. These sites direct consumers to stores in their areas that have discounts on all kinds of products and services.

The trade publication eMarketer estimates more than 92.5 million people in the U.S. redeemed a digital coupon in 2012. This year, the company predicts U.S. adult digital coupon users will surpass 100 million.

Posting experiences

Finally, the Internet gives consumers a way to communicate, sharing information about experiences, good and bad. ConsumerAffairs has given consumers a place to communicate with each other since 1998. There have been many other sites since then.

Businesses taking advantage of consumers, or providing poor service, have been called to account. The smart operators have adapted, using the Internet to respond to consumer complaints and make things right.

Now, when you make a significant purchase, such as a car or major appliance, you are likely to get an email from the company you did business with, wanting to know about your experience. It's a proactive way to identify product and service problems before they get posted online.

The bottom line is that all of this is returning power to consumers, who now have more leverage in the marketplace than they once did. In many cases, it's resulting in better deals and better service.

You may know that it is very expensive to have a baby these days, but just how expensive can vary widely, depending on the hospital you use.

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) conducted a wide-ranging study of hospitals in the state, finding that patients could be charged as little as $3,296 or as much as $37,227 for an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. It all depended on the hospital they chose. 

For a C-section, the costs were much higher, ranging anywhere from $8,312 to nearly $71,000. And these were uncomplicated births – few of the women in the study had serious health issues and most were discharged within six days of admission.

Impossible to predict

Based on their findings, the researchers conclude that it is almost impossible for a woman to predict how much it will cost to have a baby.

"Unlike other industries, the way health care is priced and paid for is notoriously opaque, making it difficult for patients to act as educated, price-comparing consumers," the authors write.

The researchers looked at data on nearly 110,000 cases in California during 2011 that involved women who had private medical insurance. Of the cases they studied, 76,766 involved uncomplicated vaginal deliveries, and 32,660 involved uncomplicated Caesarean section births. They expressed surprise at the wide variation in prices for essentially the same services.

'Appalling state of affairs'

"This is unfortunately the appalling state of affairs of health care in the United States," said lead author Renee Y. Hsia, MD, an associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF. "Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization, and even for an uncomplicated childbirth, we see a staggering difference in what hospitals charge, even for the same, average patient."

The charges, Hsia notes, affect not only the uninsured but also the fee-for-service reimbursements by some private insurers, which can translate to significant out-of-pocket costs for patients.

The researchers not only analyzed the billed charges but also tried to place an estimate on what hospitals were reimbursed for births. On average, the study found the estimated discounted prices insurers paid out added up to about 37% of the bill. The researchers also found that hospitals billed $1.3 billion in "excess charges" among the women studied -- the difference between charges and reimbursements.

In the country at large

Not only do hospital costs vary in California, they do in the rest of the country as well. According to the Transforming Maternity Care website, the amount of a hospital bill for pregnancy depends on a lot of factors, including the part of the country in which you live, whether your hospital is publicly or privately owned, how big your hospital is, and whether you have a vaginal delivery or a C-section.

Longer hospital stays, usually for complications, significantly increase the bill. Smaller hospitals tend to charge less than larger hospitals, and government-owned public hospitals are typically less expensive than privately owned hospitals, the site advises.

Even if you have a pretty good health benefits package, you are likely to face some out of pocket expense when you have a baby in a hospital. First, you have to meet your deductible and co-pay costs. The average out-of-pocket cost for a vaginal delivery for privately insured patients was $463 in 2007, while patients who had a C-section had average out-of-pocket expenses of $523, according to the March of Dimes.

Fundamental problems

The UCSF researchers say there are fundamental problems with the way U.S. hospitals price health care. They blame outdated pricing and payment structure, with medical charges poorly reflecting actual costs. Given a lack of regulation affecting medical charges, they say variation in hospital prices is not really surprising.

"At a time when out-of-pocket payments for health care are increasing, and the growing number of 'consumer-directed' high deductible health plans put more pressure on patients to make cost-efficient health care decisions, the opacity of health care pricing is increasingly concerning," the authors conclude.

A couple weeks ago, we mentioned how smartphone industry analysts believe that industry is entering a far more competitive phase of its history, basically because smartphone technology has been around long enough to thoroughly saturate the market: with the exception of children whose parents deem them not yet old enough, pretty much everybody who wants a smartphone has one by now.

Therefore, smartphone companies seeking to expand their profit margins must either “poach” customers from competing businesses, or convince the customers they've already got to shell out additional money.

Which explains Verizon's “theoretically exciting, but actually quite snooze-worthy” announcement that it's made some changes -- "upgrades," it calls them -- to the “Edge” program it rolled out last July. Here's what Verizon's press release said about Edge Upgrade at the time:

“... the new Verizon Edge device payment plan offers an affordable way to upgrade to the newest device and satisfy your love of technology. Verizon Edge is a flexible equipment payment plan that spreads the retail price of a phone over 24 months. You can also upgrade to a new phone after six months if 50 percent of the retail cost has been paid.

“Here's how it works: Choose the phone you want and sign up for a month-to-month service plan, it's as easy as that. The full retail price of the phone will be divided over 24 months and you'll pay the first month at the time of purchase. If you want to upgrade after 6 months, just pay off 50% of the full retail price of the phone and you can choose a new phone and start all over again.”

Money to burn?

Side note: As consumer advocates, we're compelled to point out that paying for a brand-new latest-gen smartphone every six months (or even paying for half of a brand-new latest-gen smartphone every six months) has the same effect on your net worth as does keeping one smartphone and periodically setting fire to large piles of $20 bills (assuming you do so in a manner cognizant of local safety codes).

And unless you're in an extremely good financial position – say, well-paid, debt-free and a year's living expenses in the bank, at minimum – we'd strongly advise smartphone buyers to pick a phone they'll want to keep for a good long length of time, no matter how tempted they are by the latest smartphone upgrades announced each week.

However, if you choose to ignore this, Verizon's updated Edge Upgrade program now offers consumers the ability to give up paying for half of a new-gen smartphone every half-year, in lieu of paying for half of a new-gen smartphone every month. Yes! CNet broke the news on Jan. 19:

“In the latest tit-for-tat in the escalating jockeying between carriers, Verizon has modified its Edge payment and early upgrade plan. Until now, customers had to wait six months to upgrade. Now they can do it after 30 days. …. Verizon said that eligibility will require news customers to pass credit checks. What's more, it said that prepaid accounts are not eligible for Verizon Edge. A spokesman for Verizon said "this is currently a promotion but we have not set an end date.”

A thoroughly unimpressed tech blogger for Engadget noted that “the tweak was technically a promotion, but it's not actually much of a deal. Although the wait-time has been reduced by a factor of six, the amount due hasn't changed a penny.... While it's always good to have options, maybe it's a better idea to sort out your buyer's remorse during your carrier's return window.”

And if you're the type of person who's genuinely interested in the opportunity to switch smartphones every month, it's a good idea to sort out your finances: write down the numbers, see where your money's going every month and decide whether you can really afford to keep replacing high-end technology more frequently than most people replace their socks.