Starting in July, a special high-risk pool will offer coverage to uninsured people with pre-existing health conditions at a cost similar to what everyone else pays. Its the first test of whether the administration can deliver on Obamas vision within the budget Congress set.
But some vulnerable patients are probably going to feel a little cheated. Consider this coverage wrinkle:
Suppose your cancer is in remission. You had to quit your job while you were having chemotherapy, and your employer coverage ran out. You cant find a private insurer wholl take you, but youre lucky to live in a state that has - - - - >

As of March 5, the IRS erroneously gave out $24.2 million in Making Work Pay tax credits, according to the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The IRS issued a total of $25 billion worth of the credits during the period, for an error rate of less than one-tenth of 1 percent.
The IRS also erroneously issued about $4.7 million in tax credits meant for people who bought plug-in electric cars. The new tax breaks were enacted as part of the massive economic recovery package passed last year.
“Our report concludes that the IRS is having - - - - >

Their testimony follows an 18-month investigation by a Senate panel that found fraud throughout the banks lending operations and failure by management to stem the deception despite internal probes.
WaMus pay system rewarded loan officers for the volume and speed of the subprime mortgage loans they closed on. Extra bonuses even went to loan officers who overcharged borrowers on their loans or levied stiff penalties for prepayment, according to the report being released by the investigative panel of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Testifying at a hearing of the subcommittee Tuesday are former Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger, ex-President - - - - >

Homeowners who have fallen on financial hard times have made other sacrifices and lifestyle changes: About a third have downsized to a smaller home or delayed expanding their family as planned.
And, a quarter of homeowners who want to sell their current home and buy another say they need to make the move in order to lower their monthly expenses due to financial problems.
The survey, conducted for Move Inc., found wide-ranging concerns about the financial condition of homeowners in a challenging economy, but also unearthed evidence of increased demand among investors in residential real estate.
“Concerns around employment and their overall economic - - - - >

China is forecast to grow by 9.6 percent, after last years 8.7 percent expansion almost singlehandedly lifted the regions overall growth to 5.9 percent, offsetting weakness elsewhere. Another powerhouse, India, is projected to see growth rise to 8.2 percent from last years 7.2 percent.
Five Southeast Asian economies that contracted last year - Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Brunei - also are set to return to growth, together with Hong Kong, Mongolia and Taiwan, the bank said in its economic outlook.
In 2011, GDP growth across the region is seen easing back to 7.3 percent.
Investment is expected to remain strong and private - - - - >

The rhetorical respite comes as President Hu Jintao heads to Washington this week, after months of friction with the U.S., and was in full evidence this weekend at an international meeting designed to showcase Chinas growing reach as an economic and diplomatic powerhouse.
Senior Chinese officials repeatedly sidestepped major issues roiling the global economy. Asked about the Chinese currency - which Washington wants to see rise in value to right trade imbalances - the central bank governor said now was not the time to discuss it. When it comes to regulating the risky Wall Street practices that contributed to the global - - - - >

The Dow Jones industrial average briefly hit the milestone Friday for the first time in 18 months before closing at 10,997.
But Wall Street analysts who study key stock index levels say all the attention paid to 11,000 is more like a big distraction. They worry that investors are ignoring another number at their peril: The surprisingly low volume of trading. As stocks have risen over the past year, the volume reflects the vulnerability of a rally riding on the shoulders of relatively few participants.
And thats given pause even to the bulls.
“It worries a lot of us,” says Wellington Shields Frank - - - - >

In response, lawmakers and government agencies have been trying to lay down stricter rules for asset-backed securities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission will weigh in Wednesday by proposing Wall Street firms that package and sell asset-backed securities be required to provide fuller disclosures on them.
The disclosures would include information on every underlying loan in a package. For example: What type of mortgage loan was involved? Were complete documents required from the borrower? Or was it a “no-doc” or “liar loan”?
The idea is to give investors more information to better judge the securities risk. That would reduce reliance on the Wall Street - - - - >

A report released Thursday by SEC inspector general David Kotz examines the bounty program in the wake of the SECs colossal breakdown that allowed Bernard Madoffs multibillion-dollar fraud to go undetected for 16 years - despite abundant red flags raised by whistleblowers.
The review by Kotzs office found there have been very few payments made under the program, which is limited to insider trading cases. Only a total $159,537 has been paid to five people since the program began in 1989.
Few applications for bounties have come in over the same 20-year period for a little-known program, the report said.
The report also - - - - >

On Wednesday, nearly 50 international donors pledged $9.9 billion to help Haiti recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake that destroyed the government and commercial center of Haitis capital, Port-au-Prince.
But U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the best sign that recovery was under way in Haiti would be an uptick in private investment.
“There need to be real investments that are really sustainable,” Holmes told The Associated Press. “Given half a chance this country can recover.”
Government-estimated death tolls from the quake - which rose without explanation ahead of the conference - range from 217,000 to 300,000 people. Most of the estimated 1.3 - - - - >