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Happy Independence Day!
As we are always thinking of our clients' needs and best interests, we prepared some reading material for you to peruse during your languorous, three-day weekend.
We'll skip the witty intro and clever segués and get right to the important stuff:
New California Law Requires Homes To Have Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Effective: July 1, 2011
Before leaving office, former Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB 183, a bill that will help prevent deaths and injuries caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that causes approximately 40 deaths in California each year.
Kevin Nida, president of the California State Firefighters' Assn. said, "SB 183 will help put an end to the senseless deaths and injuries Californians suffer due to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning every year."
The new law requires that carbon monoxide detectors installed in existing single-family homes that currently use fossil-fuel burning appliances, fireplace or have attached garage by July 2011. All remaining home will have to have carbon monoxide detectors in place by January 1st, 2013. Costing around $30 each, the detectors are an inexpensive way to prevent needless deaths.
FDA Rules Avastin Not Effective for Breast Cancer
This is the second panel to arrive at this conclusion.
In three unanimous votes, the six members of the FDA oncology drug panel voted that Avastin is ineffective, unsafe and should have its approval for breast cancer withdrawn.
The drug is approved for multiple cancers and will still be available for breast cancer, though most insurers are expected to drop coverage if it loses FDA approval. We will keep you updated on the FDA's actions.
Ruling Authorizes Lawsuits Over Some Health Data Disclosures
Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled that California residents can sue health care providers, debt collectors and others who release their private medical data to a credit reporting agency (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/18/2011). This decision overturns a previous ruling by an appeals court.
The lawsuit was based on a dispute over a $600 dental bill for a service that Los Angeles attorney Robert
Brown claimed he did not receive. Brown refused to pay the bill, prompting the dentist to send the bill and Brown's
dental charts to a debt collector (Cheever, Bay City News/San Francisco Appeal, 6/16).
Federal law restricts the disclosure of private medical records, but does not authorize lawsuits against those who disclose medical records to consumer reporting agencies during disputes over bills. However, California's 1981 medical confidentiality law allows patients to sue anyone who divulges their health data without permission.
Bottom line: the court found that federal law and regulations "favor additional, more protective state legislation," adding that a 1996 federal law gave states greater authority to tighten privacy protections.
How to Save a Few Pennies at the Pump
As we all know, the price of gasoline is still sky-high leaving most of us would-be vacationers house-bound, enjoying "stay-cations" instead of hitting the road this summer. Below are a few gas-saving tips that will make your travels less expensive:
- Slow down. (Stop laughing. It's obvious that the author of our source material does not live in SoCal.)
- Don't rev up the engine - it wastes fuel. Accelerate slowly and drive at steady speeds.
- Take good care of your ride. For example, under-inflated tires can cut fuel economy by up to 2%.
- Anticipate traffic lights and stopped traffic so that you can coast to +a stop "gradually." (LOL. I guess that means we shouldn't hitthe gas at a yellow light in order to make it through the intersection where we've sat with the engine running for 20 minutes while awaiting our turn during rush hour. Right. California is a 'car society' and most of us already know these tips. Still, it's helpful to know that we can, when traffic allows, do certain things to save our gas money.
- Consolidate trips and errands
- Don't haul extra weight around ... in your car. Save up to 2% in fuel economy for every 100 pounds of weight you remove from the car. In other words, leave the spouse and kids at the bus stop and save a few bucks.
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