Current Events in May 2017

Household debt reached a record high in the first quarter as consumers increased their use of all kinds of credit, but for the most part did a little better job of keeping up with the payments.

That's one of the takeaways from the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, issued by the New York Federal Reserve. For consumers, it provides a snapshot of how we're doing financially.

One of the facts that immediately jumps out from the report is the total first quarter debt total of $12.73 trillion, with the Fed noting it's higher than the total debt reached in 2008. Whenever that year is used as a benchmark, it's noteworthy because that was the year of the financial crisis, when the economy teetered over the edge of a cliff.

But the report's authors point out that it has taken nine years for total consumer debt to surpass that peak. That, they say, is an unusually long time.

Different from 2008

Donghoon Lee, Research Officer at the New York Fed, says the composition of that debt today is very different from 2008, when a lot of it was made up by subprime mortgages. And, he says the consumers who are holding that debt look different than they did nine years ago.

“This record debt level is neither a reason to celebrate nor a cause for alarm," Lee said. "But it does provide an opportune moment to consider debt performance.”

That is, how are consumers managing their debt? There, the results are mixed. While mortgage delinquencies are down -- a big change from 2008 -- the delinquency rates on credit cards, auto loans, and student loans are trending higher.

Student loan debt

Student loan debt is particularly troubling. In its analysis of the Fed report, Bloomberg News presents a sobering statistic; in 2003 student loan debt made up just 3.3% of the typical U.S. household debt. Now, it's 10.6%.

Worse still, consumers with student loans are having more difficulty making the payments. The percentage of severely delinquent -- loans that are at least 90 days behind -- is more than three times the delinquency rate on all household debt.

Mortgage delinquencies increased a small amount, perhaps a reflection that mortgage balances increased during the period. At the same time, credit scores of new borrowers increased, suggesting banks are being more careful about making loans.

For credit cards, balances declined slightly after a huge run-up last year but delinquencies increased, along with credit limits -- perhaps a trend to keep an eye on.

But on the whole, the Fed's report suggests, at least for now, consumers are handling their increasing debt loan. Bankruptcy notations hit an 18-year low.

Here's yet another study underlining the problems facing retirees, and as a result, how retirement itself may be fundamentally changing.

Changing as in, maybe we aren't going to retire anymore, or not until we are too weak and infirm to be productive.

The study comes from Country Financial, which reports consumers are worried about being able to afford retirement. But despite that concern, it also finds over half the people in the survey said they aren't saving money for retirement.

What that suggests is people really aren't that concerned, or they have so much trouble meeting day-to-day expenses they don't think they have any money to put away. Either way, the notion of 21st century retirement is probably changing.

Constant leisure

For some, retirement holds out the promise of constant leisure, or the freedom to do whatever they want, without having to earn a living. To do this, however, requires a pretty significant income stream. And other studies have clearly indicated that most people approaching retirement don't have the assets for that. So there is a wide swath of the population that isn't going to achieve this kind of retirement.

The Country Financial survey suggests that more and more people now plan to keep working and not retire until the very end of their lifespan. Over half of those in the study -- 51% -- do not include retirement in their long-term financial goals.

The Economic Policy Institute came up with similar findings; nearly half of families have no retirement savings.

Finding people in the workforce at age 70 or more is no longer uncommon, and may in fact become more common. The Pew Research Center reports only about 13% of Americans 65 and older were still working in 2000. Last year, more than 18% were.

Working retirement

Some people, in fact, enjoy what they do and don't want to quit. Others might want to leave their current job but try something else, even if it is part-time.

Financial advisors, of course, point out that someone transitioning to part-time employment in their later years had better have some financial resources to supplement their reduced income.

"Many Americans are outliving their assets because they did not include retirement in their long-term financial goals," said Doyle Williams, an executive vice president at Country Financial. "We strongly encourage people to develop a long-term plan so they can eliminate the fear of never being able to retire. By taking some simple steps almost everyone can have a plan in place to secure their financial future."

Because people are now routinely living well into their 80s and beyond, the notion of walking away from income-producing work at 65 may be a quaint notion. Still, even if you aren't saving for retirement, you should be saving for something. Chances are, you're going to need it.

Previous studies have shown just how beneficial eating a handful of nuts per day can be to consumers’ health. But a new study shows that doing so may be particularly beneficial to consumers who have faced colon cancer.

Researchers working with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) have found that colon cancer patients who eat two ounces or more of tree nuts per week had a 42% lower chance of cancer recurrence and a 57% lower chance of all-cause mortality than those who don’t eat them. ASCO president Daniel F. Hayes says the findings reinforce how a healthy diet should not be overlooked when it comes to cancer treatment.

“This study shows that something as simple as eating tree nuts may make a difference in a patient's long-term survival…Nut consumption and a healthy diet are generally factors that clinicians and patients should perhaps pay attention to as they design the approach to treatment for colorectal cancer," he said.

Tree nut benefits

The observational study examined questionnaire answers from 826 patients with stage III colon cancer who were asked about chemotherapy and their dietary intake, with a special focus on whether they ate any kind of nuts.

With those reports, the researchers analyzed associations between nut consumption and the risk of cancer recurrence and death. The findings showed that approximately 19% of all patients reported nut consumption of at least two ounces per week; those same patients were found to have a 42% lower chance of cancer recurrence and a 57% lower chance of death compared to their peers, with results remaining consistent across all ages, BMI scores, genders, and common genomic changes in tumors.

The researchers said that tree nuts were the main contributors to these statistics, since peanut and peanut butter consumption did not appear to impart any significant benefits. Tree nuts include staples such as almonds, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts, and Brazil nuts, among others.

Decreasing chances of cancer recurrence

The researchers emphasize that nut consumption should not be considered a substitute for standard chemotherapy for colon cancer, but they do admit that including these foods in patients' diets could provide remarkable benefits.

“Patients with advanced disease who benefit from chemotherapy frequently ask what else they can do to reduce their chances of recurrence or death, and our study is an important contribution to the idea that modifying diet and physical activity can be beneficial,” said lead author Dr. Temidao Fadelu.

“Patients with colon cancer should be optimistic, and they should eat a healthy diet, including tree nuts, which may not only keep them healthier, but may also further decrease the chances of the cancer coming back," added Hayes.

Further research needed

Going forward, the researchers say that they will continue to look at the positive impact that tree nut consumption has on colon cancer.

“Ultimately, we need to understand how nuts confer this protective effect, as well as possibly conduct a randomized, controlled clinical trial where diet recommendations are given at the start of the study to prove that tree nuts can reduce recurrence and death after treatment for colon cancer," said Fadelu.

The full study is scheduled to be presented at the upcoming 2017 ASCO Annual meeting in Chicago.

A Pittsburgh-area restaurant was issued an official warning from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) last week after officials learned that it had served raw horse meat to consumers.

The dish -- dubbed “Le Cheval” (French for "horse") – was the second course of a five-course menu at Cure in Lawrenceville, Penn. on Monday, May 8. It was served as part of the “Cure-ated” dinner series, which features guest chefs from across North America. The dish was prepared tartare (raw) style and was served with salt and vinegar chips, cured egg yolk, and black garlic mayonnaise, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“Within hours of notification, FSIS was onsite investigating the firm and issued a Notice of Warning for illegal entry of horsemeat into the United States. The Agency also confirmed that there were no other horse products in commerce or on the menu of this restaurant,” an FSIS spokesperson said.

Not horsing around

Cure’s chef and co-owner Justin Severino explained that the dish was offered for one night only and is not part of the restaurant’s menu.

“On Monday night we hosted a collaborative dinner with chefs from Canada, a Québécois feast. One of the courses included horse tartare, which is traditional Québécois. It was sourced from a sustainable horse farm in Alberta, Canada,” he said.

However, those facts don’t make the dish acceptable; the USDA points out that the sale or serving of horsemeat has been illegal in the U.S for many years. Congress banned the inspection of horses intended for human consumption back in 2006, and although the legislation expired in 2011, there are currently no inspection standards for horsemeat, which means it cannot be served.

The warning issued by FSIS does not come with any additional charges, but Cure could face prosecution if it is found to have served horse meat in the future. 

Binge eating is a widespread food disorder and binge TV viewing is getting to be a problem for the couch potato set. But neither can compete with the original binge behavior -- binge drinking. Now there's growing concern about "extreme binge" drinking.

A new study finds that nearly 32 million adults in the United States (13 percent of the U.S. population aged 18 and older) consumed more than twice the number of drinks considered binge drinking on at least one occasion during 2013, the year covered by the survey, and many went well beyond that.

“This important study reveals that a large number of people in the United States drink at very high levels and underscores the dangers associated with such ‘extreme’ binge drinking,” said George F. Koob, Ph.D, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). “Of the nearly 90,000 people who die from alcohol each year, more than half, or 50,000, die from injuries and overdoses associated with high blood alcohol levels.”

Binge drinking is defined as having four or more drinks on a single occasion for women, or five or more drinks for men. It can produce blood alcohol levels greater than 0.08 percent, which is the legal limit for driving in the United States.

Reaching this level is well known to increase the risk of harm to the drinker and others. However, evidence suggests that many people drink far beyond four or five drinks per occasion, defined as extreme binge drinking.

Three levels of binge drinking

The current study analyzed three levels of past-year binge drinking - Levels I, II, and III. These levels were defined as four to seven drinks, eight to 11 drinks, and 12 or more drinks on a single occasion for women; and five to nine drinks, 10-14 drinks, and 15 or more drinks on a single occasion for men.

Researchers analyzed data from recent studies and found that in the 2012–2013 survey, 39 percent of adult males and 27 percent of adult females reported Level I binge drinking during the previous year. Eleven percent of males reported Level II binge drinking (two times the binge drinking threshold for adult males) at least once in the past year, and 7 percent reported Level III binge drinking (three times the binge threshold) at least once in the past year. Five percent of females reported Level II binge drinking (two times the binge drinking threshold for adult females) at least once in the past year, and 3 percent reported Level III binge drinking (three times the binge threshold) at least once in the past year. 

After controlling for age, race, sex, marital status, education, drug use, and smoking, compared to people who did not binge drink, people who drank at the various binge levels were much more likely to experience an alcohol-related emergency department visit; have an alcohol use disorder; be injured because of drinking; be arrested or have legal problems resulting from alcohol use; or be the driver in an alcohol-related traffic crash.  

Extreme binge drinking was particularly common among study participants who used other drugs. This is a concern because combining alcohol with other drugs can increase the risk of injuries and overdose deaths.

“Drinking at such high levels can suppress areas of the brain that control basic life-support functions such as breathing and heart rate, thereby increasing one’s risk of death,” said senior author, Aaron White, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Advisor to the NIAAA Director. “The risk increases further if other sedative drugs, particularly opioids or benzodiazepines, are added to the mix.”

The study is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

In just about every aspect of life these days, there's a written agreement that contains a lot of fine print few of us ever bother to read.

We should. Not only could it keep us out of trouble, it might even save us a lot of money, especially when traveling.

Travel appears to entail a lot of fine print in agreements, from airlines tickets, to rental cars, to credit cards. The editors at CheapFlights.com, a travel site, recently pored over all the fine print they could find when it travel. It was enlightening reading, to say the least.

Credit cards

For example, the fine print in your credit card agreement may extend a lot of travel benefits you didn't know you had. Many, but not all, cards provide limited forms of travel insurance.

For example, some cards will reimburse you if you book a trip but have to cancel it for good reasons, like getting sick. Most cards offer at least secondary insurance coverage on rental cars. It's usually limited to damage only, but that can be a benefit because if you have a fender bender, the credit card company takes care of it and you don't have to file a claim with your auto insurance provider -- a claim that almost certainly will result in higher rates.

Airlines

When dealing with an airline, read the fine print about cancellation fees, which just about every airline now charges. CheapFlights.com says it found airlines typically allow you to cancel your reservation at no charge, if you do it within the first 24 hours.

Almost all airlines charge rebooking fees, but you usually don't have to pay them when the airline cancels a flight, especially because of bad weather. That information is in the fine print.

If you book your flight well in advance, keep track of the fares on your flight. Very often they go down. CheapFlights says some airlines will refund the difference if you ask them to. Again, you wouldn't know that unless you read the fine print.

What about when your luggage, or its contents, are damaged during the flight? The airline will usually pay, but how much will be spelled out in the fine print.

Airline overbooking has been a hot topic since that incident in Chicago last month when a passenger was forcibly ejected from a United Airlines flight. If you are bumped, or voluntarily give up your seat, the airline will compensate you, and the potential amount will be spelled out in the fine print.

Learn more in the ConsumerAffairs Travel Insurance Buyers Guide.

In a bit of reversal from recent years, it looks like Americans are starting to favor independent restaurants and mom-and-pop eateries over big chains. In a Bloomberg report, analysts at Chicago-based research firm Technomic say that that the news is a turning point for U.S. restaurants.

“This really seems to be the dawning of the era of the independent. The independents and small chains are now outperforming. The big chains are now lagging,” said chief insights officer Darren Tristano.

Looking for an experience

So, what is it that’s fueling independent restaurants? Experts are chalking it up simply to changing American tastes and values, as well as the emergence of many free-marketing websites.

The report says sites like Yelp and even Instagram are helping independent restaurants carve out a niche that is more appealing to some groups of consumers who are looking for a better restaurant experience. Research conducted by Chicago-based Pentallect Inc. shows that consumers are now seeking out better food, service, deals, and even décor that makes their dining out experience more memorable.

Restaurant and franchisee consultant John Gordon points out that online reviews and social media boosts from consumers are helping mom and pop eateries compete with large-scale competitors, and that these more “authentic” experiences are being accentuated by diners.

“It’s not the same barriers to entry that there were, that if you put up this group of restaurants that you have to have this big TV campaign. No, you don’t,” he said, adding that it’s not “experiential to sit in a rundown McDonald’s.”

Lagging sales

While independent restaurants are starting to thrive, experts say the reversal isn’t a death sentence for big national chains. While the Pentallect report predicts annual revenue increases of 5% for independent restaurants through 2020, the researchers say that big chains will see growth of about 3% during the same period.

However, lagging sales are causing some chains to downsize to keep up. Experts note that Subway Restaurants, which has the largest number of stores in the U.S., posted its first ever domestic outlet decline last year. Other chains like Noodles & Co., Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc., and Applebee’s are also closing restaurants due to poor performance.

“The experience of dining out has become much more important than it was before,” said Larry Konecny, chief concept officer of Maggiano’s Little Italy.

The daily commute to work can often be the low point of many consumers’ day, but a new study suggests that taking advantage of certain modes of transportation can help fight obesity.

Researchers from the University of Illinois have found that counties that rely more on their mass transit systems produce residents that have lower obesity rates. They say that putting more funds into these systems could promote better overall wellbeing.

"As local communities seek to allocate public funds to projects that will provide the most benefit to their residents, our research suggests that investing in convenient and affordable public transit systems may improve public health by reducing obesity, thereby providing more value than had been previously thought," said researcher Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science at Illinois.

Cutting obesity rates

Jacobson, along with graduate student Zhaowei She and lecturer Douglas M. King, came to their conclusions after analyzing public county health and transportation data.

After controlling for factors like household income, poverty rate, education level, access to health care, and leisure physical activity, they found that a 1% increase in a county’s population that frequently used mass transit systems correlated to a 0.2% drop in obesity rates.

"By viewing this link at the county level, we provide a national perspective by considering data from counties throughout the United States. Our research suggests that, in addition to benefits to the environment and greater access to transportation for residents, community-level investments into public transit systems may also benefit public health by reducing obesity rates," said King.

Increases physical activity

The researchers explain that the health benefits of using mass transit come from the increased level of physical activity that travelers need to engage in, something that is lost when simply driving directly to their final destination.

"For example, when someone rides a bus, they may begin their trip by walking from their home to a bus stop before boarding the bus. Then, once they get off of the bus, they may still need to walk from a bus stop to their destination. Alternatively, if they had driven a car, they might simply drive directly from their home to their destination and eliminate the walking portion of the trip," said Jacobson.

The full study has been published in Preventive Medicine.

With summer weather just beginning, people and their dogs will be heading for their neighborhood dog parks, which is normally an enjoyable, fun-filled outing. But Nationwide Insurance, which insures pets, says it also results in a surprising number of injuries and medical claims.

Maybe it's not so surprising. Dogs are lovable creatures but don't always get along that well with others in their species. Strange dogs mixing it up in a dog park can turn ugly fast.

Nationwide said it reviewed 2016's medical claims and found that soft tissue injuries was the most common injury incurred at a dog park to its insured canines. Hypothermia or heat stroke was the most expensive injury, averaging $704 a claim.

Necessary safety steps

"The dog park can be a great place for friendly dogs to socialize and exercise, but there are safety measures dog owners need to be aware of," said Carol McConnell, vice president and chief veterinary medical officer for Nationwide.

This may sound elementary, but following the posted rules can help keep pets out of trouble. Usually, when there is a sign saying not to do something, it's because it was done in the past with a bad result. So the first step is to stay within the rules.

Nationwide also suggests visiting the dog park by yourself before showing up with your pet. You should check out the other dogs -- and their owners -- to see if they will be a good fit for you and your dog.

Don't ignore your dog

Once you and your dog are at the dog park, participate in your pet's play activity. That way you can better monitor your dog's interaction with other pets. In nearly every case, a puppy under four months old is too young for a dog park.

Always take water and a bowl to keep your dog hydrated. Just like people, dogs build up a lot of heat during vigorous exercise. During the summer, it's best to avoid going to the park during the hottest times of the day.

Signs of overheating include rapid panting, a bright red tongue, thick drooling saliva and glassy eyes.

"Many of the medical conditions on our dog park-related injury list can be avoided by taking necessary precautions, but some are out of the owner's control," McConnell said. If any of these issues occur, dog owners should head to their veterinarian or emergency animal hospital for treatment."

In 2016, Nationwide policyholders spent $10.5 million to treat their pet's dog park-related mishaps.

The last couple of years have seen a very active housing market, as homes sold faster and for more money.

That's good if you were trying to sell your home, not so good if you were trying to buy.

While it still appears to be a seller's market, real estate marketer RE/MAX reports the pace sales slowed considerably last month, usually the time that the spring housing market takes off.

April home sales were down 4.1% from March and 4.5% from April 2016. But the rest of the report suggests the drop is not entirely due to a lack of demand. Consumers may still want to buy homes, they just might have a harder time finding one to buy.

In fact, RE/MAX found that 53 metro areas still appear to be seller's markets, where homes go for closer to the asking price. Here's more evidence the drop in sales has more to do with record low inventories than a lack of interest:

Record low number of days on the market

Home selling in April spent an average of only 57 days on the market. In the nine years RE/MAX has compiled this report, that's the lowest it's ever been in April.

The median sale price rose to $226,000 last month. Again, that's another April record and the 13th consecutive month the median sale price has increased.

The inventory of available homes in April was down more than 17% from April 2016. In March, the months supply of available homes dropped below three months for the first time ever. In April, there was only a 2.8 months supply of homes. Inventory below six months is considered a seller's market.

April sales in March?

A big majority of the 53 metro areas in the report saw sales declines in April, maybe because many of the buyers made purchases in March. March saw a a 6.6% spike in sales, perhaps because many buyers were motivated to act sooner because of the lack of inventory.

"We may be seeing some frustration from buyers," said Dave Liniger, RE/MAX Chairman and CEO. "Inventory is tighter than ever, while strong demand keeps driving up home prices."

But if the demand is there, why aren't more sellers taking advantage of it? Liniger says that tight inventory is proving to be a double-edge sword.

While fewer homes for sale makes those that are on the market sell faster and for more money, the sellers then have to wonder where they will live. Once they sell and become buyers, they face the same tough market conditions that are affecting the market. Liniger says that might make homeowners think twice about selling their homes.

Bumble Bee buzzed around with other tuna packagers and retailers to keep the price of canned tuna high, according to court documents filed in a U.S. court in San Francisco.

The criminal complaint has already cost Bumble Bee $25 million and now its rivals and alleged co-conspirators Starkist and Chicken of the Sea are being drawn into the case, thanks to a lawsuit filed by Walmart which alleges a long-lasting and wide-ranging effort to artificially prop up prices.

In the San Francisco case, Bumble Bee pleaded guilty last week to fixing prices from at least 2011 to 2013. Two of the company's vice presidents also pleaded guilty to related charges, according to Courthouse News Service.

The Washington Post reports today that Walmart is alleging the conspiracy was much bigger, and that it went on from 2010 to 2015.

“We believe there is strong evidence that suppliers of canned tuna to Walmart conspired to artificially inflate and wrongfully fix prices in order to increase their own profits at the expense of consumers,” said Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Walmart, the Post reported.

Jill Irvin, senior vice president and general counsel for Bumble Bee said the company “takes this matter very seriously” and cooperated with the DOJ investigation “from the start,” according to Courthouse News.

Sales have been falling

The irony in all of this is that the popularity of canned tuna has been steadily decreasing for years as American tastes have moved towards fresher seafood.

Instead of working to rebuild demand, Walmart alleges that executives of the three companies met on a regular basis to agree on ways to keep prices artificially inflated. The giant retailer says that even though the supply of tuna rose and fell over time, the prices charged by the packagers continued to climb -- evidence, it says, of illegal collusion.

The lawsuit says the companies also conspired to resist pressures that they work with Greenpeace and other conservation groups to label fish caught without the use of devices that can trap other species, like swordfish and sea turtles.

Other retailers and a group of suppliers have joined a class action suit against Bumble Bee and other packagers. A hearing on that case is set for tomorrow in San Diego federal court.

The lithium ion battery has been the key to mobile electronics. It powers all manner of portable devices, from laptops to smartphones -- even cars.

But over time, you may notice that these batteries don't seem to hold as much juice. And now that consumers are keeping their smartphones a lot longer and not upgrading every two years, they often find their battery issues are getting worse.

“As your cellphone battery ages, you notice that you have to plug it in more often,” said battery expert Daniel Abraham, a scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. “Over a period of time, you are not able to store as much charge in the battery, and that is the process we call capacity fade.”

Abraham co-authored a paper on the topic with a long, dry scientific title, but what's in it may be very important to consumers who would like to go longer between charging their devices. Abraham's work focuses on why your smartphone battery doesn't age well.

How batteries work

First, he explains how these batteries produce energy. Lithium ions move back and forth within the battery through a liquid, creating positive and negative charges. It's a simple process and, in theory, they could do this forever, meaning the battery would last that long.

But during that process, there are side reactions that erode the power of the ions. The longer the battery is used, the more erosion takes place, and the more often you have to charge your battery.

“In most battery cells that people are dealing with, the capacity fade occurs because of lithium loss in what we call the SEI, or the solid electrolyte interphase, of the negative electrode,” Abraham said.

Trapped ions

The SEI begins to trap ions, so that there are fewer of them doing their job. Abraham attributes this process to the manganese ions in the battery, which he says speed up capacity fade.

The solution? Well, Abraham and his team aren't there quite yet. They do think, however, that reducing the amount of manganese ions in lithium ion batteries is a first step.

Abraham says most of the battery research thus far has focused on increasing energy density, but he says lithium ion batteries need longer lives as well, especially since these batteries are being used to power electric vehicles and are extremely costly to replace.

So it's possible that in the not-to-distant future lithium batteries won't lose charging capacity over time and will last as long as your smartphone does.

The associations representing America’s doctors, nurses and hospitals have all issued strong condemnations of the American Health Care Act, saying that the bill as written would take coverage away or make it prohibitively expensive for millions of Americans. Suspiciously silent on the matter, however, was the pharmaceutical industry’s trade group.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, PhRMA for short, has regularly sent lobbyists to Capitol Hill this year discuss the American Health Care Act specifically, lobbying records show, but they did not release a statement about the bill after it passed in the House and have not returned an email from ConsumerAffairs asking for their opinion on it.

Perhaps they thought it would be better to keep a low profile in the wake of generous tax breaks that the Republican legislation promises drug companies, as well as device-makers and health insurance companies. 

Under previous legislation, Obama’s Affordable Care Act, the federal government imposed a new tax on drug companies in exchange for giving them business through government health programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The American Health Care Act as written would repeal those taxes, a move that the Joint Committee on Taxation has said would reward the industry with a $25 billion tax break at the expense of taxpayers. The American Health Care Act would also repeal an excise tax imposed on medical device companies by the previous administration, a tax break worth another $20 billion to the industry. 

Health insurance companies also big winners

Also poised to benefit from tax breaks in the American Health Care Act are the executives of health insurance companies. In 2013, an amendment to the Affordable Care Act mandated a tax on the salaries of health insurance executives who made upwards of $500,000. (Otherwise, employee salaries can generally be written off as a business expense). The American Health Care Act would repeal that tax, giving a $400 million break to health insurance behemoths like Aetna, whose chief executive Mark Bertolini made $41 million in total compensation last year. 

It’s not just tax breaks that would help health insurers. An amendment that Representative Tom MacArthur added to the American Health Care Act would allow insurance companies to raise premiums for customers, based on their “health status.”

The bill’s proponents claim this amendment would have limited impact, because it would only apply to people who live in states that seek “waivers” to allow the policy. Additionally, only people who had a lapse in coverage that lasted longer than 63 days and who are purchasing insurance through the public exchange would be affected. Some lawmakers as a result claim the MacArthur Amendment actually helps people with existing health problems. “MacArthur Amendment strengthens AHCA, protects people with pre-existing conditions,” Representative Paul Ryan tweeted last week.

But America’s doctors say that’s not the case. The existing ban on using health status to determine a customer’s health insurance rates “protects individuals from being discriminated against by virtue of their medical conditions,” the American Medical Association recently wrote to Congress. “We are particularly concerned about allowing states to waive this requirement because it will likely lead to patients losing their coverage."

The health insurance industry also claims that they are concerned about protecting people with pre-existing conditions. But unlike the doctors, the health insurer lobbying association has refused to give an opinion on how Congress’ specific policy proposals, like the MacArthur Amendment, would actual affect people with pre-existing conditions.

America’s Health Insurance Plans “has not taken positions supporting or opposing the AHCA or any of the amendments,” an association spokeswoman writes to ConsumerAffairs via email.

In testimony before Congress, the chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans only offered vague support for the idea of insuring those with existing conditions, and she added a caveat. “No individual should be denied or priced out of coverage because of their health status. However, with this as a principle, modifications to existing insurance reforms are needed,” executive Marilyn Tavenner said. “...in order to ensure these reforms work effectively, they would need to be coupled with strong incentives for individuals to maintain continuous coverage. “

Keeping that “continuous coverage” may not be as easy as it sounds. "That's not a good protection. If you lose your job, if you have some other adverse life circumstance, if you were covered through your spouse and get divorced” -- any of those events could cause a “lapse” in continuous coverage longer than 63 days, notes Dr. Adam Gaffney, a pulmonologist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School. 

Gaffney guesses that health insurance companies probably support the MacArthur Amendment that doctors dread so much. "My sense is that it is certainly beneficial for them to be able to charge people higher premiums or be able to cover less healthcare,” he tells ConsumerAffairs. 

Health insurers say they are worried about Medicaid

Health insurers have, however, expressed surprising concern for one group of America’s more vulnerable patients: those who depend on Medicaid, or the program that subsidizes healthcare for low-income Americans. “The American Health Care Act needs important improvements to better protect low- and moderate-income families who rely on Medicaid or buy their own coverage,”  Tavenner, of America’s Health Insurance Plans, added in a public statement after the healthcare bill passed the House. 

And in an even bigger surprise, the chief executive of one health insurance company in particular has expressed willingness to discuss a single-payer policy, according to one news report. The site VOX reported on Friday that “a top insurance executive signals openness to government-financed health care.” They based their report on a leaked recording of Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, who reportedly told an employee: “Single-payer, I think we should have that debate as a nation.”

Usually, the general idea of government-subsidized healthcare seems to make the health insurance industry uncomfortable. In 2009, America's Health Insurance Plans took a strong position against the public option -- a system in which the federal government would introduce its own, publicly-financed health insurance plan, giving the public an option that would compete against private health insurance plans.

Though consumers may have benefited from the competition, the health insurance industry wasn’t having it.  “A new government-run plan would underpay doctors and hospitals rather than driving real reforms that bring down costs and improve quality,” the industry group charged at the time. 

And last September, when Senate Democrats floated the idea of a public option yet again, the AHIP again came out swinging. “We need proven solutions that will make healthcare more affordable for everyone. A public option is not one of those solutions,” AHIP insisted. (Senate bill sponsor Senator Jeff Merkley countered at the time: “The fact that insurance companies are already rallying to kill this idea shows all the more the importance of a public option in holding insurance companies accountable and providing much-needed competition in the marketplace.”)

Medicaid expansion is good for business

It doesn’t take any real digging to see that health insurance companies support government-run healthcare when they are the beneficiaries of government money.

In that recording of Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini that was leaked to VOX, Bertolini reportedly goes on to say: “We can be there in a public-private partnership to do the work we do today with Medicare, and with Medicaid at every state level.” In other words, Aetna already profits from Medicaid and Medicare contracts and would be interested in debating the idea of single-payer, if the government contracted Aetna's services to actually run that program as well.

Bertolini’s support for something like single-payer made news the same day that Aetna celebrated the billions it had made from Medicaid contracts. In a quarterly report, Aetna told investors Friday that it earned $8.4 billion in revenue from Medicaid in 2016, an increase of $4 billion from 2013. “New contract wins and expansion of existing relationships drive growth,” the company explained in a PowerPoint presentation, on a slide that boasts about a “Track Record of Significant Medicaid Growth.” 

At the same time that Aetna has celebrated its earnings under Medicaid contracts, in no doubt thanks to Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act, the company has also blamed the Affordable Care Act for steep losses. Aetna has already pulled out of the individual insurance market in most states and on Wednesday announced that it would leave Delaware and Nebraska, the only two states where Aetna remains in the exchange.

The company said that the public exchange caused them “around $225 million in losses" this year, yet Aetna’s presentation for investors published last week tells a much better story. The company reported $18 billion in profits last year, a steady increase from $17 billion in 2014. Aetna also boasts about growing revenue and significant shareholder return. 

In remarks to investors earlier this month, Bertolini pointed to government programs as the most significant source of business growth. "Let me begin with our Government business, which continues to be the predominant driver of our growth story," Bertolini said. He discusses how Medicare Advantage and Medicaid contracts both helped the company. 

He goes on to say that "Aetna is well positioned to take advantage of the strong growth dynamics in Medicaid, as states continue to look to the private sector to manage the health of their Medicaid beneficiaries. Aetna’s strong positioning and the demographics supporting Government revenue growth make it one of the most compelling opportunities for the foreseeable future."

Aetna's spokesman frames the company's "losses" this way: "Our approximate individual Commercial product losses (pre-tax) were $100 million in 2014, $130 million in 2015, and $450 million in 2016, with projected losses of more than $200 million in 2017...As I’m sure you’re aware, Medicaid does not fall into that product category," Aetna spokesman TJ Crawford writes to ConsumerAffairs. 

Single-payer vs. public option vs. holistic medicine

Under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, millions more Americans became eligible to enroll in the program. Because the feds contract Medicaid services out to private insurance companies, the insurance industry as a whole earned an estimated $900 billion in federal dollars from the new customers. “Expanding Medicaid creates a significant business opportunity for insurers operating Medicaid managed care plans,” writes the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank.

Even UnitedHealth Group, another insurer that left the Obamacare exchange after claiming it suffered losses, in 2013 told investors that they expected strong growth “as Medicaid programs grow through the ACA expansions.” 

"I think the insurance industry would like to see the subsidization of Medicaid to be as high a possible because they want that to go in their pockets,” adds Gaffney, the physician and Harvard lecturer. In his spare time, Gaffney writes about health policy and volunteers for Physicians for a National Health Program, a collective that advocates for bringing a single-payer or Medicare-for-all variety of health insurance reform to the United States. 

Gaffney and his peers represent a minority in the healthcare world. Even the American Medical Association, for all of its critiques of the health insurance industry and Republican healthcare proposals, has stopped short of embracing single-payer reforms or even a public option. Back in 2009, when the public option idea was still a  possibility, the American Medical Association jumped in the debate to say it would fight it. Healthcare should be "provided through private markets, as they are currently,” said the AMA, which represents 250,000 of the nation’s doctors. Echoing sentiments made by private insurers, the doctors’ group wrote to Congress that giving the people a choice to join a public plan would actually “restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers.”

Meanwhile, Aetna’s own recent presentation to investors indicates that Aetna would like to “expand” the general definition of health, to include factors that are not actually healthcare. Aetna tells investors in a PowerPoint slide that they want “healthcare" to account for only 10 percent of health's definition.  Aetna’s slide says that genetics, individual behavior, and social and environmental factors -- all things that a health insurer like Aetna is not in the business of covering -- should account for the remaining 90 percent of health’s meaning. The company frames it this way; “Aetna is taking a more holistic view of health.” 

A 16-year-old South Carolina youth collapsed and died at school last month and the coroner blames his death on the high caffeine content of the drinks he consumed in the hours leading up to his death.

“On this particular day within the two hours prior to his death, we know [Davis Allen Cripe] had consumed a large diet Mountain Dew, a café latte from McDonalds and also some type of energy drink ...  It was so much caffeine at the time of his death that it caused his arrhythmia,” Richland County coroner Gary Watts said at a news conference, according to an NBC News report.

"Totally legal substance"

What makes Cripe’s case notable is that he wasn’t someone plagued by a heart defect or cardiac problem. Watts reports that his autopsy did not indicate any sort of undiagnosed heart condition – he simply had too much caffeine in too short a period of time.

"We lost Davis from a totally legal substance... [He], like so many other kids and so many other people out there today, were doing something that they thought was totally harmless, and that was ingesting lots of caffeine," Watts said.

"It wasn't a car crash that took his life. Instead, it was an energy drink," said Davis’ father Sean Cripe at the news conference. "Parents, please talk to your kids about these energy drinks."

Check your labels

Watts says the point of the news conference wasn’t to “slam Mountain Dew ... café lattes, or energy drinks,” but to provide an example to other consumers about the dangers of ingesting too much caffeine at once.

“I realize this is a controversial scenario. There are obviously people that don’t think this can happen – that you can have this arrhythmia caused by caffeine ... But what we want to do is to make people understand that these drinks – this amount of caffeine, how it’s ingested, can have dire consequences. And that’s what happened in this case,” he said.

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration holds that caffeine in doses of up to 400 mg is generally safe to consume – about the equivalent of 5 cups of coffee. If you're buying caffeinated drinks, experts say you should be sure to check the caffeine content to be sure you're staying within safe limits.

A known risk

Cripe's death is by no means the first sign that caffeinated drinks can be dangerous. 

Back in 2015, an international study concluded that the beverages carry a risk of sudden cardiac death for young, healthy individuals, and much more recently another study confirmed that consumers with genetic heart conditions – known or otherwise – could be at risk of serious cardiac events from consuming them.

You might think that this wealth of research would deter consumers from buying these highly caffeinated beverages, but it seems that the opposite is true. Brands like Monster and Red Bull are still wildly popular among certain groups and don’t seem to be fading away; unfortunately, the health risks associated with energy drinks and consuming high amounts of caffeine don’t seem to be going away either.

The threat from ransomware is so frightening and immediate, given the extensive coverage of last week's attack, that it is easy to forget about another technological threat -- identity theft.

Identity theft occurs when a criminal hacks into your computer to steal personal data, or simply finds something useful in your mailbox, and uses it to create credit accounts in your name.

While ransomware may put your photographs, correspondence, and everything on your computer hard drive at risk, identity theft can bury you with debts that aren't yours, ruining your credit and taking years to straighten out.

A new survey by Experian, one of the three credit bureaus, has found wide gaps in consumers' awareness of the identity theft threat, and perhaps because of that, it finds gaps in consumers' protective measures.

Too complicated?

Most consumers in the survey -- 84% -- admitted they are concerned about the security of their personal information online. But the complexity of the issue, the inconvenience in doing something about it, and the belief the odds are against them becoming a victim, discourage them from taking action. For example, nearly half the consumers in the survey admitted they don't check their credit reports once a year, even though the law allows them to do so at no charge.

"Consumers seem to be tuning out rather than tuning in," said Michael Bruemmer, vice president of identity protection at Experian.

Experian conducted the survey to coincide with the launch of its new identity theft protection service, IdentityWorks. While these services may prove useful, there are other steps you can take to protect your identity, and they cost nothing.

How to protect yourself

First, shred or otherwise destroy all discarded documents that have your sensitive information in them -- things like Social Security numbers, birthdays, mother's maiden name, or anything else that could be a unique identifier.

Never transmit this information in an email. Be vigilant for email phishing scams, designed to trick you into revealing this information, in the belief you are dealing with a legitimate organization. Legitimate organizations do not ask for this information online.

If you have been a victim of identity theft, of a "soft" incident, where your credit card information was among the data stolen in a hack of some retailer's network, you can ask all three credit bureaus to freeze your credit report.

That means no one can access it without your permission. Without access to your credit report, no credit accounts can be opened in your name. The freeze is good for 90 days, and can be renewed.

Earlier this year Javelin Strategy & Research reported there were 15.4 million identity theft victims in the U.S. in 2016, a record high. It's up 16% since 2003, with losses rising to $16 billion.

The biggest increase was in the use of stolen credit card data, especially for online transactions.

Consumers who are taking canagliflozin to treat their type 2 diabetes are being warned that the drug carries an increased risk of leg and foot amputations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requiring a prominent boxed warning for the drug, which is sold under the brand names Invokana, Invokamet and Invokamet XR.

Final results from two clinical trials showed that leg and foot amputations occurred about twice as often in patients treated with canagliflozin compared to patients treated with placebo, which is an inactive treatment.

Amputations of the toe and middle of the foot were the most common; however, amputations involving the leg, below and above the knee, also occurred. Some patients had more than one amputation, some involving both limbs.

If you are taking canagliflozin, you should notify your doctor right away if you develop new pain or tenderness, sores or ulcers, or infections in your legs or feet. Talk to your health care professional if you have questions or concerns. Do not stop taking your diabetes medicine without first talking to your physician.

Health care professionals should, before starting canagliflozin, consider factors that may predispose patients to the need for amputations. These factors include a history of prior amputation, peripheral vascular disease, neuropathy, and diabetic foot ulcers. 

Canagliflozin is a prescription medicine used with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. It lowers blood sugar by causing the kidneys to remove sugar from the body through the urine. Untreated, type 2 diabetes can lead to serious problems, including blindness, nerve and kidney damage, and heart disease. 

"Canagliflozin is an important treatment option for people with type 2 diabetes," said the drug's manufacturer, Janssen. The company said that while the incidence of amputation observed in the trials was low, "the highest incidence of amputations across all treatments was seen in patients with prior amputation."

Companies often talk about reducing their carbon footprint by cutting down on waste, but could all that extra carbon that’s out there actually fuel American industry?

Researchers from Texas A&M seem to think so. Dr. Joshua Yuan and his colleagues say that waste material from the paper and pulp industry could be repurposed to make all sorts of products, from tennis rackets to entire cars. The secret, they say, is collecting and repurposing a substance called lignin that is found in all that waste.

"People have been thinking about using lignin to make carbon fiber for many years, but achieving good quality has been an issue,” said Yuan. “We have overcome one of the industry’s most challenging issues by discovering how to make good quality carbon fiber from waste.”

Carbon fiber production

In basic terms, lignin is a class of organic materials that helps form the tissues and structural walls in certain plants and algae. The researchers say that about 50 million tons of lignin is thrown away each year in products disposed of by the paper and pulp industry.

Initially, the research team found some initial success in making fuel and bioproducts from lignin, but the processes involved still led to a lot of waste. That’s when they started thinking outside the box and considered making other products.

“We separated lignin into different parts, and then we found that certain parts of lignin are very good for high quality carbon fiber manufacturing,” explains Yuan. “We are still improving and fine-tuning the quality, but eventually this carbon fiber could be used for windmills, sport materials, and even bicycles and cars…Carbon Fiber is much lighter but has the same mechanical strength as other materials used for those products now. This material can be used for a lot of different applications.

Creating U.S. jobs

The researchers believe that the process they’re developing makes complete use of lignin and dramatically cuts down on waste. They say that certain parts of the substance could be used to make anything from bioplastics to asphalt binder modifiers that are used to make roads.

Perhaps best of all, Yuan points out that the sustainable nature of lignin allows for an economic return that would create jobs and fuel economic growth in rural areas of the U.S. where production would most likely take place.

“The entire supply chain is in the United States, which means the jobs would be here. The biomass is grown, harvested and transported here. It would be difficult to ever ship that much waste to another country for production. It all stays here…It would put agriculture production and industry together in a bioeconomy making renewable products,” he said.

The full study has been published in Green Chem.