Madison, WI - Health care costs have skyrocketed since 1982. So have the costs of repairing a car damaged in an accident. But the minimum coverage required for Wisconsin liability insurance has remained unchanged for a quarter century. Citizen Action of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Association for Justice say it's time to increase the current coverage, which is only $25,000 per individual, $50,000 per incident and $1,000 for medical expenses.

Robert Kraig of Citizen Action says the higher liability limit proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle in his budget - $100,000 per individual, $300,000 per incident and $10,000 for medical expenses - is much more realistic.

"People pay a lot for their auto insurance and then are shocked to find out later, when they are in an accident, that they don't have enough liability coverage and they're not fully protected."

The insurance industry says higher limits will mean higher bills, but Kraig says the consumer ends up losing when their insurance doesn't come close to covering the cost of an accident.

"Going back to 1982, it's at least a 250 percent to 300 percent increase simply in medical costs, let alone all of the other costs."

Kraig supports the budget item proposed by the governor, which would institute more realistic minimums for liability coverage.

"It updates those minimums so that anyone buying auto insurance gets enough coverage to cover their liability, in most cases."

The Wisconsin Association for Justice, the largest voluntary statewide Bar organization in the state, also supports the measure.




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ROSLINDALE, Mass. - A new report finds Massachusetts residents would rather repair electronic devices than send them to landfills, but manufacturers often create barriers to making those repairs.

The report says seven of the 10 most popular manufacturers of phones, laptops, appliances and more restrict access to parts and service information - limiting consumers and even repair professionals, from accessing tools, parts, schematics or software.

Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Group, said legislation has been pending in the General Assembly for years to ensure the digital "right to repair."

"You know, when you purchase something, the idea is you own it," said Domenitz. "But if you can't fix it, you don't own it, and that's part of our case for passing this law. If you buy a device, you should get the instructions for how it's made, and how you fix it."

The report says in 2020, more than two million Massachusetts users went online to 'iFixit.com' to learn how to repair something. Domenitz noted it's estimated that Commonwealth residents could have saved $870 million last year by repairing devices instead of buying new ones.

Alex Castillo owns Digitech Electronic Solutions, an electronics repair company based in Roslindale. He said bringing devices back to the manufacturer for repair can be time-consuming and expensive, especially for people who may not have transportation or time to take off work.

"Here, luckily, it could be done in fairly quicker time," said Castillo. "And also the amount of money will be a huge discount, compared to going to one of those big manufacturers."

Domenitz added electronic waste is one of the most prevalent and toxic sources of waste. She said it takes 165 pounds of raw material to produce one eight inch cellphone.

And Americans discard more than 415,000 cellphones per day, roughly 8,100 in Massachusetts.

"Disposing of stuff, putting things in landfills and incinerators," said Domenitz. "I mean, that is polluting our air, water, taking up open space."

DENVER -- The days of exponentially high increases in health-insurance costs may finally be in the rearview mirror. The Colorado Division of Insurance's preliminary plans for 2022 project only slight premium increases.

Gov. Jared Polis credited the state's reinsurance program for helping save consumers money.

Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Initiative, said the program, which allows insurance companies to defray the costs of the most expensive claims, has helped keep rates stable in the individual market.

"On average, Coloradans are going to see around a 1.4% increase in plan premiums, which is a far cry from some of the double-digit premium increases that we saw several years ago," Fox explained.

Savings from the reinsurance program increased this year. Grand Junction and other parts of the Western Slope, and communities on the Eastern Plains, saw health-insurance premiums drop by more than 35% on average. Rates in Front Range cities dropped between 20% and 30%.

Critics of legislation establishing the program worried the cost of fees collected to finance reinsurance would just be passed along to consumers.

Fox noted so far, there has been little evidence consumers are being negatively impacted by how the program is funded. Even if fees collected from insurance companies were being passed along to consumers, Fox added the program's benefits are far greater.

"On average, Coloradans are saving 24% on their premiums because of the reinsurance program, and the fee is 2% of premiums being collected," Fox outlined.

The reinsurance program is one of a host of policy tweaks state lawmakers have crafted under the Affordable Care Act in an effort to keep costs down and increase coverage.

Polis promised even greater savings when the Colorado Option comes online. The measure requires insurers, health-care providers and hospitals to reduce premiums by an additional 15% by 2023.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- As more North Carolinians resume travel and take vacations this summer, most will be relying on their debit and credit cards, and smartphones, and experts say fraudulent activity from financial data aggregation services such as PayPal and Venmo are a growing concern.

Joe Mecca, vice president for communication at Coastal Credit Union, said criminals can steal login credentials from less secure websites, and then attempt to use them to hack into other accounts or obtain bank information.

"Fraudsters are getting more and more sophisticated in how they target people," Mecca outlined. "They're getting a combination of publicly available information, as well as information that may have been stolen from different data breaches, and they start to cobble that all together to create profiles. "

Mecca advised never using the same password on multiple websites, and emphasized a strong, unique password is your first line of defense.

According to a report from Safety.com, North Carolina ranks fifteenth in the nation for the frequency of cybercrime, with losses estimated at more than $48 million.

Mecca added sharing seemingly harmless information on Facebook such as your first car, favorite pet or second-grade teacher's name may reveal common security question answers.

"What they don't realize is your friends who went to school with you that you're connected with on Facebook that a fraudster can see, might be using that information, or your family members might be using that information," Mecca explained.

Jonathon Striley, vice president for information security at Coastal Credit Union, recommended just like getting your vehicle's oil changed every few months, take the time to regularly update your computer, change your passwords and delete old accounts.

"Security is going to continue to be a major threat, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it," Striley asserted. "Now everything that we do is entirely dependent on computers. Therefore, our security and our well-being is dependent on keeping them safe."

Losses from identity-theft cases increased 42% to more than $700 billion last year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Experts say the spike was fueled by the high rate of unemployment identity theft during the pandemic, as increased and extended unemployment benefits became a magnet for fraudsters.