DailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comDailyFinance.comhttp://o.aolcdn.com/os/df/2013/img/2-dailyfinance_logo_m.pngDailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comen-usCopyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Urban Foragers Turn City Parks Into Produce Aisleshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/05/01/urban-foragers-turn-city-parks-into-produce-aisles/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/05/01/urban-foragers-turn-city-parks-into-produce-aisles/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/05/01/urban-foragers-turn-city-parks-into-produce-aisles/#commentsFiled under:

Urban foragers are taking On a bright spring day, Iso Rabins wanders through the brush atop one of San Francisco's highest peaks. "Wild radish over there," says the 29-year-old, pointing to a leafy plant with small purplish flowers. A few steps later, he pauses in front of waist-high plant with silky green fronds. "That's wild fennel. I use it a lot."

This is Rabins's foodie twist on the nature walk. To most of us, his discoveries might look like weeds that we'd readily douse with Roundup (if they were sprouting in our yard). But to this bearded hipster, they are ingredients for his next meal. Actually, make that his next banquet: an eight-course, $75-per-person affair called The Wild Kitchen that showcases all the edibles that can be found in and around America's 12th largest city.

On the menu for a recent dinner was a soup made of wild onion, fiddleheads and heirloom potatoes and desserts including a variation on the French mille feuille -- this one made with flour from milled acorns gathered in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Once you start to realize that the things you see around you every day are edible, it changes your relationship with nature," says Rabins, a film major who moved to San Francisco from Massachusetts in 2007. "It becomes even more important to protect it when you really understand its real value in producing food."

'People Like the Idea of Eating Snails'

Rabins is considered a pioneer in the growing urban foraging movement. Foraging is an offshoot of the locavore trend that has been sweeping the nation over the past decade. Only instead of eating food from family-owned farms located within a day's drive, urban foragers stay even closer to home, collecting and eating the fruits, vegetables and animals (snails, mostly) that are found growing in the sidewalks, street medians and urban parks just feet from their homes. "People like the idea of eating snails that could be in their backyard," Rabins says. "We actually have the same genus of snails here that are found in Europe."

Those snail-loving foragers aren't just living in picturesque and eco-friendly San Francisco. They can also be found combing the urban landscapes of much grittier metropolises like Chicago and New York. While there are no figures on the number of urban foragers nationally, foraging blogs lately seem to be popping up like the very Morel mushrooms they chronicle. What's more, Stalking The Wild Asparagus, the book by Euell Gibbons long considered the forager's bible since it initially appeared in 1962, was recently updated and reprinted to keep up with the rising demand.

"For me, it's about enjoying the fact that there really is a whole lot of local food that is right under your feet," says Ava Chin, who writes the Urban Forager blog for The New York Times. "I've found the Mexican herb Epazote in a parking lot in Brooklyn. I smashed it up with some avocado and made the best guacamole ever."

Turning Wild Mushroom Gathering Into a Business

For Rabins, a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, the interest in foraging traces back to 2007 during a visit with his father in Humboldt County in Northern California. That's when he got his first taste of wild mushrooms that some family friends had just picked. "I had this moment when I realized 'Wow, someone actually went out and found these,'" he says.

Rabins started helping mushroom foragers in the area sell their fungi to restaurants in the Bay Area -- a fateful move that set him on his unconventional career path. "I decided I didn't want to be waiting tables," he says. "What I wanted to be doing is hanging out in the woods a lot and talking to people about wild food."

Rabins has turned his foraging hobby into an expanding enterprise called ForageSF that, among other things, sells "Community Supported Forage" boxes of wild foods to 25 customers once a month.

For $20 to $80 a month, depending on the box's contents, subscribers to the CSF might get foraged Black Trumpet and Chanterelle mushrooms, chickweed and Miner's Lettuce, huckleberries and blackberries. Rabins works with area fisherman to add locally-caught fish to the mix. "I'm trying to keep the CSF business a small part of what I'm doing as it's an astounding amount of work," he says.

An Underground Market for Home Chefs and Growers

More time is going into The Wild Kitchen dinners, says Rabins, who also leads Wild Food Walks in and around San Francisco several times a month for $30 per person.

But perhaps Rabins's biggest success so far is the SF Underground Market, a venue for area locals to buy food grown and cooked by ordinary citizens. "There are a lot of people who have been making things like jams for years and years, but can't get into a regular farmers market," he says.

The first market day held earlier this year drew just eight vendors and 200 customers, he says. But word spread quickly. By the time the last one was held in April, the event attracted some 70 vendors and 2,000 customers. Labeled a "food rave" because of its warehouse setting, the shoppers could purchase Hawaiian baked goods, salumi, Jewish deli fare and jams from locally foraged fruits, to name a few items. "It was pretty epic," Rabins says.

Chef Dontaye Ball, who peddles his specialty pulled pork at the market, credits Rabins for turning a city already obsessed with chasing the latest culinary trends onto wild edibles. "He's definitely educating people about the fact that 'Oh, there's wild fennel or dandelion greens in my backyard and they're edible," says Ball, who has worked in some of San Francisco's hottest restaurants and runs Good Foods Catering.

The Debate Over Foraging: Safety Versus Taste

Not everyone is gaga over foraged foods. Officials with the San Francisco Department of Public Health warn that eating foods found in the wild can be risky. Some mushrooms are toxic, says Richard Lee, director of the department's Environmental Health Regulatory Program. And then there is the issue of pesticides. "No one knows how much pesticide has been applied to certain spots," he says.

Rabins insists he goes to great lengths to assure his wild foods are safe. "We're really careful about the places where we harvest and about thinking what has gone on in the areas before and what industry may be located nearby," he says. What's more, he says he steers clear of species of mushrooms for which poisonous ones can resemble the edible ones.

Safety concerns like the ones Lee mentions don't easily deter urban foragers. Even while working full-time as a professor of nonfiction and journalism at the College of Staten Island-CUNY, Chin manages to spend two to three hours a week foraging, no matter the season. Last winter, she tapped her first maple tree -- one growing in a neighbor's yard. She boiled the sap down into maple syrup, which she used on pancakes.

Besides blogging for the New York Times, Chin has no plans to make foraging a commercial venture. She is, however, planning a wild foods dinner with chef Louisa Shafia, author of the cookbook Lucid Food. "Some people think this is totally cool," she says. "Others think it's totally whack. They say, 'the next time you come over for dinner, you're not going to bring anything foraged, are you?'"

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]]>foodforagingEric WahlgrenSat, 01 May 2010 09:05:00 ESTHealth Care After Reforms: More to Cheer than Fearhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/28/health-care-reforms-more-to-cheer-than-fear/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/28/health-care-reforms-more-to-cheer-than-fear/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/28/health-care-reforms-more-to-cheer-than-fear/#commentsFiled under: , ,

One reason may be that the reform calls for all 50 of them to operate exchanges on which individuals and small businesses can purchase health insurance.Americans aren't exactly all on the same page when it comes to health-care reform. As soon as the legislation passed in March, more than a dozen states filed suits against the federal government, arguing Uncle Sam can't compel people to buy health insurance.

One of the new law's key ways of expanding coverage is a federal "mandate" that requires many of America's 50 million uninsured to purchase insurance -- with federal subsidies when needed -- or face fines if they don't. That provision, by the way, doesn't kick in until 2014.

Experts say the legal challenges from states including Florida and Virginia stand little chance of succeeding. The federal government, they maintain, has a lot of authority to regulate public health, particularly if it makes it more affordable. But as health-law expert Timothy Jost puts it, "We're not starting off on the right foot."

"Popular Model" in Massachusetts

Why this foot-dragging by some states? One reason may be the reform calls for all states to operate exchanges on which individuals and small businesses can purchase health insurance. Some states have argued the insurance exchanges could hurt patients and limit access to care. But a look at Massachusetts, which implemented a health-insurance exchange that has served as a model for the federal reform, suggests this hasn't been the case.

The Bay State created the Health Connector exchange allowing uninsured state residents to shop for insurance on the Web in 2006. By 2009, the number of uninsured had dropped to 2.7% -- the lowest rate in the nation -- compared to about 9% before Massachusetts pursued universal health coverage.

"It has been a popular model," says Sara Collins, vice-president at The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation in New York that researches health-care issues. "People have been really happy with it."

Federal Plan Has More Cost Control

The main gripe about Massachusetts's revamped health-care plan? It hasn't helped the state cut costs, says Jost, a professor at the Washington and Lee University Law School in Lexington, Va. "But that's not something they set out to do," Jost says. "There's more cost control in the federal legislation than there was in the Massachusetts legislation."

According to the Obama Administration, the majority of us won't really notice any change in our health care as the reform takes effect on a staggered basis over the next four years. (The Commonwealth Fund has an excellent time line that lays out when the various changes will be implemented.) That's because the 58% or so of Americans who are covered under employer-sponsored health-care plans will continue to be.

Those who will see a difference are the 32 million or so currently uninsured who will eventually get coverage. Either they'll be added to the rolls of Medicaid -- the federal health program for low-income individuals -- or will be able to buy insurance through one of the state-run exchanges. And there's a pretty good chance the folks who go from having no coverage to having insurance will like the change. This will likely make it harder for reform opponents to push for the legislation's repeal.

Among the biggest improvements is that insurers will no longer be able to deny people coverage based on pre-existing conditions. It'll be another four years before this is the law, but starting this year, carriers can no longer rescind contracts once someone is covered in their plan.

Insurers Known to Drop Enrollees

Insurers have been known to cancel coverage when enrollees have developed conditions that are costly to treat, citing omissions that may have been made on their enrollment forms. "This was not an uncommon event," says Collins. Also this year, insurers can no longer impose lifetime caps and unreasonable annual maximums on benefit claims.

But much of the fuss has been made about the insurance exchanges, most likely because how they'll operate isn't clearly understood. Outside of Massachusetts and the handful of other states that have them, few individuals have a clue about how they'll work. A review of the exchanges' main principles suggests they may actually do a lot of good.

Here's how it'll work. Adults earning 133% of the federal poverty level income or below -- about $14,000 for a single person or about $29,000 for a family of four -- will qualify for Medicaid.

Anybody above that level -- an expected 24 million Americans -- will be able to buy insurance on a health-insurance exchange. And individuals earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level in income -- or about $88,000 for a family of four -- will be eligible for federal subsidies to do so. "Most people who try to go into the individual market today never get into a plan," says Collins. "It's not affordable. The exchanges will be a significant improvement."

Goal of Insuring 95% of the U.S.

Small businesses, meanwhile, will be eligible for tax credits to offset premium costs associated with the mandate of providing insurance.

There's been a lot of squawking about the fact that the government will penalize people who are required to buy insurance on an exchange but fail to do so. Fines could approach $695 per person, or 2.5% of income for failure to do. Why the teeth in the law? The federal government has decided that it's the only way to achieve its goal of getting 95% of the country insured. (Undocumented aliens will not be covered under the new law).

But the mandate won't apply if an individual's insurance premium exceeds more than 8% of their income. "I think people will mostly decide to enroll," says Collins. She says for most Americans, it will make more sense to pay for coverage than to pay out of pocket for medical expenses. In addition to premium subsidies, some individuals will be eligible for cost-sharing credits to help with insurance co-payment and deductibles, she adds.

Exchanges will be designed to allow individuals -- and small businesses -- to go online and easily compare plans offered by various carriers. What's more, there'll be an independent rating system for plans to help consumers make the best choices, experts say. "Consumers will be able to make apples-to-apples comparisons," says Jost.

Harder to Cherry Pick Healthiest

Tougher regulations will make it harder for insurers to "cherry pick" the healthiest individuals, a practice that led to the failure of the health-care exchange for small businesses in Texas, experts say. For starters, insurers will have to offer the same policies and pricing for products both inside and outside of the exchanges. "Insurers are infinitely resourceful, and they will find ways to cherry pick," says Jost. "But that said, there'll be a lot of safeguards in the state exchanges."

The lack of a public-option means there could be less competition than if private insurers also had to compete for customers with a government-run health-care plan.

But if the experience of the largest private Medicare exchange is any guide, the state-run exchanges could foster competition among insurers, creating some savings in America's bloated health-care system.

Bryce Williams, president and CEO of Extend Health, says the exchange his company runs has enabled corporations to save about $1,000 annually per employee by letting the retirees shop for Medicare plans among many insurers. Before contracting with Burlingame (Calif.)-based ExtendHealth, companies could only offer their employees a handful of choices among private Medicare programs, he says.

"You see incredible plan competition among carriers," says Williams. "If the exchanges can work for seniors, who are the most sensitive consumers and the hardest to satisfy, they should work beautifully for active employees or for the self-employed." If the reform rolls out as expected, we should find out if that's indeed the case in less than four years.

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]]>health care costshealth insurance exchangeshealth reformlawsuitMassachusettsObamacarePre-existingConditionsEric WahlgrenWed, 28 Apr 2010 14:57:00 ESTAnger Mounts as Sea Lions Are Killed for Eating Endangered Fishhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/02/anger-mounts-as-sea-lions-are-killed-for-eating-endangered-fish/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/02/anger-mounts-as-sea-lions-are-killed-for-eating-endangered-fish/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/02/anger-mounts-as-sea-lions-are-killed-for-eating-endangered-fish/#commentsFiled under:

Six California sea lions have been euthanized by wildlife officials in Oregon under a special federal program that basically allows them to be killed if they are caught eating endangered fish.At Bonneville Dam along the scenic Columbia River that divides Oregon and Washington states, a battle is raging between two species of mammals at very different levels of the food chain. At the top, of course, are humans, who say they are trying to prevent depleted populations of endangered Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout from coming any closer to extinction. Lower down, are hungry California sea lions, who've discovered that the dam -- located about 37 miles east of Portland -- is an excellent place to feast on the fish during their annual run.

Not so surprisingly, the sea lions are losing. Year-to-date, six of the portly pinnipeds have been euthanized by state wildlife officials under a special federal program that basically allows them to be killed if they are caught eating endangered fish. But as the sea lion death toll mounts, so too does the anger over their deaths.

Leading the protests has been the Humane Society of the United States. The animal welfare organization takes issue with the fact that area fisherman are allowed to catch and keep up to 16% of run -- expected to be a record 470,000 fish -- while sea lions are estimated to be munching on 4% of the run, says Sharon Young, marine issues field director for the organization.

"This is about the integrity of the [fisheries] management program," says Young. "You can't sensibly say that a 4% take by sea lions is unsustainable and yet at the same time allocate up to 16% for fisherman. It makes no difference to the fish who eats them."

'Strong Emotions on All Sides'

Officials counter that the fisherman mostly hook salmon raised in hatcheries while sea lions don't differentiate between wild and farm-raised fish. Rick Swart, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's northwest region, concedes it is "very contentious and difficult" to decide what to do about the sea lions. "There are a lot of strong emotions on all sides of this issue," he says.

Monitoring by wildlife officials suggests that sea lions are eating about 3% to 4% of the upriver run at the dam alone, Swart says. But, he adds, there are more than 140 miles of river from the Pacific Ocean to the dam. Any fish eaten downriver aren't captured in those numbers, he says. "I am sure that anglers would say that the sea lions are getting way more than their share," he says.

Decisions on how to allocate the fish are made with input from various groups, including sport fisherman, commercial fisherman and Native American tribes. Bottom line, Swart says: "There are a lot of competing interests that want these fish."

Looking for 'Chronic Offenders'

Swart says the killing of sea lions is considered a last resort. The preferred method of keeping predators from chowing down on fish is called "hazing," which entails firing rubber bullets at the animals or creating underwater explosions to scare them off. But hazing only works when wildlife officials are there to do the job, which is Monday through Friday. "On the weekends, the sea lions move back in," he says. "Some people think they're foraging at night."

Before a sea lion is killed, several criteria must be met, according to the program, which is administered by the Oregon wildlife officials, their counterparts in Washington state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Among the requirements, the sea lion must be individually identified, must be observed in the Bonneville Dam area on at least five days, must be seen taking one salmon and must have been present during one hazing operation.

In other words, officials are looking for "chronic offenders." Swart says the sea lions are "humanely euthanized" by a veterinarian.

Effective Fish Management or 'Treadmill of Death'?

Under the program last year, officials killed 11 sea lions, according to a report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Four others were taken to zoos or aquariums. It's unclear how many could be killed this year, but the Associated Press says more than 60 sea lions are being tracked as repeat offenders.

Program proponents argue it has worked, saying the number of sea lions, which can weigh up to 600 pounds, has dropped at the dam, according to the AP. However, the 4,489 salmon that they gobbled up last year was the most since the monitoring began in 2002.

The Humane Society's Young maintains that officials are pursuing a futile strategy, as there will always be new sea lions that will come. "The strategy would be more effective if they didn't keep getting replaced," she says. "It is just a treadmill of death, if you will."

Stellar Sea Lions Join the Party

If officials were truly concerned about replenishing endangered fish stocks, Young says, they'd worry more about limiting logging and agriculture that result in river conditions that are harmful to fish. Officials could also find a better way to encourage successful runs than requiring fish to jump through narrow slits in the hydroelectric dam, she adds.

The situation at Bonneville Dam could get even more complicated soon, says Young. Stellar sea lions are showing up in greater numbers to feed on the fish, she says. Because Stellars are protected by the Endangered Species Act, they cannot be killed.

For his part, Swart says the sea lion management program, now in its third year, is scheduled for a review. "After this year's efforts, this program will be reevaluated and someone a lot higher up in the chain of command will determine whether it is worth going forward with the program in the future or not."

No word yet on whether California sea lions have hired a "K" Street lobbyist.

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]]>bonneville damcalifornia sea lionchinook salmonendangered speciesfishinghumane societyoregonsea lionsteelheadstellar sea lionwashingtonEric WahlgrenFri, 02 Apr 2010 10:00:00 ESTThe Real Way to Reform Health? Wireless Technologyhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/23/the-real-way-to-reform-health-wireless-technology/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/23/the-real-way-to-reform-health-wireless-technology/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/23/the-real-way-to-reform-health-wireless-technology/#commentsFiled under:

If you lie to yourself -- or your doctor -- about how much you eat, watch out. A new Band-Aid-sized sensor that you tape to your tummy could soon detect how many calories you consume and burn off, zapping the data to your cellphone using Bluetooth wireless technology.

The calorie counter from a San Diego-based company called PhiloMetron is just one of the many new high-tech devices that could help us take better care of ourselves.

As you probably know, the health-care reform legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law on Tuesday is really more insurance reform than actual reform of our health-care system. What actually could make us live healthier lives -- and save money in the process -- is combining the use of wireless technology, such as the calorie counter, with our greater understanding of genetics, or what makes us predisposed to certain diseases, says digital health pioneer Eric Topol (pictured).

This will lead to improvement in care because patients will be monitored and treated on a more personalized basis, predicts Topol, chief medical officer of the West Wireless Health Institute, a La Jolla, Calif.-based non-profit focused on developing wireless technologies for use in medicine.

Transforming How Doctors Practice

"We have to get away from the population medicine we use today," says Topol, speaking at the Burrill Consumer Digital Health Meeting in Burlingame, Calif. "We give the same dose of drug and use the same devices and screenings on the same patients. Focusing on the individual and using the tools that we have, whether they are sensors, phenotypes [the expression of certain traits depending on genetic and environmental factors] or whole-genome screening, will get us to the medicine of the future."

Just as Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and Amazon's (AMZN) Kindle are changing the way we communicate and entertain ourselves, new wireless sensors and other gadgets are transforming how doctors practice medicine, says Topol, who is also director the Scripps Translational Science Institute, a La Jolla, Calif.-based outfit focused on using clinical research to improve patient care. The time is now, says Topol, a cardiologist by training who is also chief academic officer at Scripps Health, the San Diego health system part of Scripps.

The world currently has 4 billion cellphone users. The advent of smartphones, smart sensors, pervasive connectivity and broadband 3G are also speeding changes in medical practice, he says.

"These five forces have crated a perfect storm for the medical world to exploit some opportunities here," says Topol.

A 21st Century Stethoscope

Topol says he now uses his smartphone to look up prescription drug information while consulting with patients, saving him from having to go to his computer or flip through a book. Using an application developed by San Antonio-based AirStrip Technologies, Topol can now monitor a patient's vital signs including heart rhythm, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation on his cellphone.

"You can do this from anywhere in the world," says Topol. "I think this is one of the many ways that we will be able to follow patients."

While many of the technologies that Topol discussed at this conference, sponsored by San Francisco life sciences investment bank Burrill & Company, are in various stages of development, some are already on the market. One is GE Healthcare's (GE) Vscan handheld ultrasound machine, which is being billed as a 21st century stethoscope. Shaped like a clamshell telephone, the Vscan provides resolution as good as the typical echocardiogram machine found in hospitals.

"Why would you need a stethoscope if you have ultrasound imaging?" asks Topol. "You can never get this information from listening to a person's heart." Vscan can also be used to check up on fetal health in remote locations.

Even though all these medical doodads hold a lot of promise, they do face challenges. Among them is the fact that it may be harder for doctors to get reimbursement for new technology such as the Vscan, which is priced under $10,000. Compare that to under $50 for a stethoscope.

Physicians Are Averse To Change

What's more, physicians are notorious for being averse to change. "Physician acceptance and physician adaptability is arguably the most difficult thing to achieve," says Franklyn Prendergast of the Mayo Clinic.

But the potential for many new devices to make doctors' jobs easier -- and to help patients live longer -- may force the issue, experts say. San Diego-based Sotera Wireless is working on a sensor that could capture blood pressure and oxygen saturation through a wrist transceiver, obviating the need for a clumsy blood pressure cuff. The benefit? A patient's blood pressure could be monitored anywhere and continuously.

"It's not just because high blood pressure is the most difficult disease to manage and diagnose," says Topol. "The variability in blood pressure has been shown to be more important" than the actual reading, he says.

How would such devices save money? The iRhythm monitor for irregular heart rhythm, which can be taped on like a Band-Aid, could be used for a week at a cost of about $100, says Topol. Using the traditional Holter monitor -- recognized by all its electrodes that must be attached to the chest -- to observe cardiac arrhythmias can run in the thousands for two days, he says.

Shifting To Digital Medical Era

Topol maintains that we are moving from the "digital lifestyle era to the digital medical era." There are pills in development with digestible RFID chips that will notify caregivers whether a patient has taken their meds. The scanning of an individual person's whole genome, a process that once cost millions, may soon be in the hundreds of dollars, leading to a better understanding of what medicines work best on which individuals.

Meantime, products like the iShoe sensor, which detects deteriorating balance in elderly adults, could help the 40% of U.S. seniors who fall in their homes every year to better avoid injuries.

While there have been many advances, researchers are still working on developing a monitor that would allow diabetics to measure their glucose levels continuously without having to break the skin. "The holy grail of wireless needs is the non-invasive glucose monitor," says Topol. With health reform now underway, perhaps researchers will find a little more support in their quest.

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]]>healthwirelessEric WahlgrenTue, 23 Mar 2010 19:00:00 ESTLehman Brothers Hastened Its Own Bankruptcy: Reporthttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/11/lehman-brothers-hastened-its-own-bankruptcy-report/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/11/lehman-brothers-hastened-its-own-bankruptcy-report/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/11/lehman-brothers-hastened-its-own-bankruptcy-report/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

At $639 billion, Lehman Brothers Holdings' bankruptcy in 2008 was the biggest in U.S. history and touched off a withering financial crisis known as the Great Recession. On Thursday, a federal judge released a damaging report saying that rather than working to prevent the collapse, senior Lehman executives, auditor Ernst & Young and other investment banks may actually have hastened it, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Citing the report, the newspaper said that the investment bank's top brass, including CEO Richard Fuld, failed to disclose accounting problems that the report called "actionable balance sheet manipulation." The report also faulted other investment banks, including Citigroup (C) and J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), saying they demanded collateral from Lehman and revised agreements with the New York-based firm in its final days. These were moves that reduced Lehman's liquidity and drove it toward bankruptcy, the paper said, citing the report.

The Journal said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck unsealed the report following the investigation of the events leading up to Lehman's implosion by court-appointed examiner Anton Valukas, chairman of law firm Jenner & Block.

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]]>bankruptcyLehman BrothersrecessionEric WahlgrenThu, 11 Mar 2010 20:17:00 ESTBaby or Bust: Infertile Couples Turn to the Web to Raise Funds for IVFhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/09/baby-or-bust-infertile-couples-turn-to-the-web-to-raise-funds-f/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/09/baby-or-bust-infertile-couples-turn-to-the-web-to-raise-funds-f/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/09/baby-or-bust-infertile-couples-turn-to-the-web-to-raise-funds-f/#commentsFiled under:

When Shelton and Brandi Koskie learned five years ago that they would need fertility treatments to have a baby, they were stunned. After all, the Koskies, who met while working at Old Navy in college, were in their early twenties, not typically an age when couples have to worry about the biological clock. Perhaps equally shocking was how much the procedures would cost: Some $20,000 out of pocket. Even though they were young professionals with good jobs, they had nowhere near that kind of cash lying around.

"There were a lot of nights that we would come home from work and sit quietly in the dark together and just cry," says Brandi, now a 28-year-old senior editor at health and weight loss company DietsInReview.com. "That lasted a few days and then we said 'That's it, we're done crying.'"

When the tears stopped, the brainstorming began. The Koskies were determined to find a way to raise the cash for the in-vitro fertilization they needed. In 2006, they launched BabyorBust.com, a blog where they began chronicling their struggle with infertility and asking for donations.

The pleas for help worked, to the tune of nearly $6,500. Friends, family and total strangers donated the money through PayPal and Amazon.com payments on the site. By 2009, the couple had saved another $13,000 on their own. Now, six years after the couple first embarked on their odyssey, they are expecting a baby girl in April.

"It has been really overwhelming," says Brandi, speaking from the couple's home in Wichita, Kan. "We expected some friends and family might help, but people from all over the country and the world have donated. We've been so touched."

Bringing Infertility to Center Stage

While BabyorBust.com is believed to have been the first IVF fundraising blog of its kind, it is hardly the last. Infertility has long been considered a "silent" disease because many couples have been reluctant to discuss the problem outside their circle of close family and friends. But as a younger generation -- more comfortable pouring their hearts out to complete strangers on the Web -- confronts the disease, it is slowly emerging from the shadows.

The Koskie's issue with conceiving had to do with the fact that Shelton's Vas Deferens duct, which carried the sperm out of the testicles, had never developed into an open tube. To collect his sperm, it would require surgery.

"It was difficult for me to come forward with my story at first," says Shelton, who now works in interactive marketing for health-care software company Pulse. "I was working for a big aircraft manufacturer at the time and that is very much a man's world. I eventually realized that I wasn't the only one [with male factor infertility], but that nobody is going to talk about it unless you put it out there."

Indeed, one-third of the 7.3 million people in the United States -- or one-in-eight couples -- affected by infertility have reproductive issues attributed to the male partner, according to Resolve, a McLean, Va.-based non-profit organization focused on reproductive health.

Traditional Financing Options Dry Up

The average IVF treatment costs at least $12,000 -- a low-ball estimate -- and about half of the people who need IVF cannot afford it, says Barbara Collura, executive director of Resolve. Although 15 states require health-insurance companies to cover some fertility treatments, the coverage usually pays for just a fraction of the total cost. In the Koskie's case, for example, their insurer agreed to kick in only about $500, Brandi says.

Making matters worse, many of the traditional sources of funding that couples rely on to pay for treatments are drying up, Collura says. The mortgage crisis has made it tougher for couples to refinance their home or take out home-equity lines, two options financial consultants used to recommend for financing IVF, Collura says. What's more, a major credit-card company that used to offer loans for IVF dropped the program last year, she adds.

"The financial challenges aren't new, but what is new is that a lot of the ways that people used to get cash to pay for the treatments are pretty much non-existent," says Collura. "That is why you are seeing more unique ways of doing things."

Using Facebook, Twitter and eBay to Pay for Treatments

Sommer Cronck, 32, and her husband Skip, 38, decided to get creative in 2006, when they got word they would have to come up with nearly $14,000 for IVF if they wanted to have a second child. The Blaine, Wash. couple launched a blog called Just One More and raised some $200 by holding a photo contest in which they charged entrants $10 apiece. The prizes included an iPod and gift cards they had purchased with credit-card points. Selling Skip's CD collection netted about $2,000. Sommer, meantime, hawked her Barbie collection on eBay.

Soon enough, they had raised more than $8,000, which was enough -- with cash taken from a home equity line -- to begin their treatments in late 2006. After the first attempt failed, they tried again, raising another $5,000 that they supplemented with a big charge on their American Express card.

The Cronck's second round of IVF did the trick. Their twin boys were born in October 2007, Sommer says. "If you are open about what you are going through, you will find so much support in ways you never imagined," she says.

In San Francisco, couple Brian and Molly Walsh used Facebook, Twitter and email to invite their family and friends to a special wine-tasting fundraiser in January that would help pay for the $25,000 cost of their fertility treatments. Nearly 150 people paid $35 each to attend the event, which featured a silent auction of items donated by friends as well as a magician and Jumpy Castle for kids. The couple raised more than $8,000 from the affair.

"It was a really hard decision to be so public with this," says Molly, 38, head of business development at USA Hosts/Key Events. "But so many positive things have happened as a result, and not one of them would have come about if we had kept this to ourselves."

The Ethics of Raising Money for IVF Treatments

Success rates for IVF treatments vary with the mother's age, but average less than 40% for females under 35 and just 11.5% for mothers 41 to 42 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hank Greely, a biomedical ethicist at Stanford University, says couples should be aware of the consequences of fundraising for IVF. People who donate money might take an unwanted interest in the pregnancy and the child. "They might feel entitled to information that I'd rather keep private or to a relationship with a child I wouldn't like," says Greely, who is also a law professor and director of Stanford's Center for Law and Biosciences.

There is also the potential that fraudsters could pose as infertile couples. Couples sometimes go through several rounds of IVF before conceiving or giving up. "It would be a pretty easy scam to claim that 'Oops, it didn't work. We're heartbroken. Will you help us try again?" he says.

Couples who've received donations say they try to address these concerns by revealing the most intimate details of their lives and keeping donors informed of their every move. The Koskies say they posted on their blog each bill they received for their various fertility procedures, along with the progress they were making toward starting a family. "We did our best to be as transparent as possible," Brandi says.

Looking back on their long road to parenthood, the Koskies say the experience has taught them to be more patient, a trait they believe will come in handy once their little girl is born. "I don't think I can imagine taking for granted a single moment with her," Brandi says. Before that happens, the Koskies are keeping plenty busy with baby showers and birthing classes, BabyorBust.com reports.

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]]>biological clockfertilityhelton koskiein vitro fertilizationinfertilityivfkoskiemale factor infpregancyreproductive healthReproductiveHealthtest tube babiestest tube babyEric WahlgrenTue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:00 ESTObama Calls for 'Up or Down' Vote on Healthcarehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/03/obama-calls-for-up-or-down-vote-on-healthcare/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/03/obama-calls-for-up-or-down-vote-on-healthcare/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/03/obama-calls-for-up-or-down-vote-on-healthcare/#commentsFiled under: ,

Unwilling to see his landmark healthcare reform legislation die, President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to pass the bill, according to Aol News. The site reported that the president called for an "up or down" vote on a plan that he said incorporated "the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans." For the full story on Aol News, click here.


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]]>HealthCareReformobamaEric WahlgrenWed, 03 Mar 2010 20:00:00 ESTGOP Tells Obama to Start Over on Health Carehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/25/gop-tells-obama-to-start-over-on-health-care/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/25/gop-tells-obama-to-start-over-on-health-care/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/25/gop-tells-obama-to-start-over-on-health-care/#commentsFiled under: ,

President Obama's health-care summit on Thursday was hardly the bipartisan session he had hoped it would be, with Republicans calling for the White House to start over with the entire reform process. Obama said he hoped the event was not become just "political theater" and pleaded with the GOP to confront an issue he described as a catastrophic drag on the American economy.

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]]>health reformobamaEric WahlgrenThu, 25 Feb 2010 19:45:00 ESTConcierge Medicine: Patients Pay Up for a Doctor's Undivided Attentionhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/10/concierge-medicine-patients-pay-up-for-a-doctors-undivided-att/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/10/concierge-medicine-patients-pay-up-for-a-doctors-undivided-att/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/10/concierge-medicine-patients-pay-up-for-a-doctors-undivided-att/#commentsFiled under:

Physician Dragan Djordjevic used to see up to 30 patients a day in a busy internal medicine practice in Chicago. Visits lasted as little as 15 minutes, not long enough, he felt, to provide the best possible care to his patients. Five years ago, Djordjevic got what he says was a wake-up call: A longtime patient phoned to say she was changing doctors.

Continue reading Concierge Medicine: Patients Pay Up for a Doctor's Undivided Attention


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]]>boutique medicinedoctordoctor shortagedoctorsfamily practitionershealth insurancehealth insurance costshealth insurersheart attackhospitalhospitalizationinsuranceinternistmarcus welbymarcus welby mdmedicineorthopedic surgeonorthopedicspersonalized medicine stocksprimary careradiologistsradiologyEric WahlgrenWed, 10 Feb 2010 14:00:00 ESTToyota Tells Dealers It's Readying a Fix for Prius Brakeshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/07/toyota-tells-dealers-its-readying-a-fix-for-prius-brakes/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/07/toyota-tells-dealers-its-readying-a-fix-for-prius-brakes/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/07/toyota-tells-dealers-its-readying-a-fix-for-prius-brakes/#commentsFiled under:

Embattled automaker Toyota has told its dealers that it's readying a fix for problems with the brake system of its Prius hybrid sedan, CNN Money reported Sunday. The Japanese carmaker also told dealers it's planning a public-relations campaign to deal with the fallout from the problems with its vehicles, CNN Money added. The news outlet said the automaker wrote to dealerships saying: "We want to assure our dealers that we are moving rapidly to provide a solution for your existing customers. We will share more specific details on this solution early next week." For the full story, click here.

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]]>priusprius brakeprius brake complaintsprius brake recallprius brake rrecallprius brakesprius hybridtoyotatoyota dealertoyota dealerstoyota priusEric WahlgrenSun, 07 Feb 2010 11:05:00 ESTPaper Says Toyota to Recall Prius; Carmaker Says No Decision Yethttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/04/paper-says-toyota-to-recall-prius-carmaker-says-no-decision-yet/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/04/paper-says-toyota-to-recall-prius-carmaker-says-no-decision-yet/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/04/paper-says-toyota-to-recall-prius-carmaker-says-no-decision-yet/#commentsFiled under: ,

Toyota faced mounting pressure Thursday as the government opened a probe of brake problems with the Prius, a crown jewel of its lineup. The beleaguered automaker said it was "too soon" to decide whether to add the hybrid to the millions of cars it has recalled.

Continue reading Paper Says Toyota to Recall Prius; Carmaker Says No Decision Yet


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]]>hybridpriusprius hybridrecalltoyotatoyota priusEric WahlgrenThu, 04 Feb 2010 20:50:00 ESTGeithner Says He Played 'No Role' in Keeping AIG Bailout Details Secrethttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/27/geithner-says-he-played-no-role-in-keeping-aig-bailout-details/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/27/geithner-says-he-played-no-role-in-keeping-aig-bailout-details/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/27/geithner-says-he-played-no-role-in-keeping-aig-bailout-details/#commentsFiled under:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress Wednesday that he played no part in what appears to be efforts by government regulators to keep secret from the public key information about the bailout of embattled insurance giant AIG. "I had no role in making decisions regarding what to disclose," Geithner testified at a hearing held by the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, according to CNN Money. For the full CNN Money story, click here.

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]]>AIGGeithnertimothy geithnerEric WahlgrenWed, 27 Jan 2010 17:19:00 ESTHealth Care System: Feds Push New Paperless Efforthttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/17/health-care-system-feds-push-new-paperless-effort/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/17/health-care-system-feds-push-new-paperless-effort/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/17/health-care-system-feds-push-new-paperless-effort/#commentsFiled under: ,

Imagine if your physician could pull up all your allergies and active diagnoses on a laptop, saving you from having to recite your conditions at each visit. Imagine a prescription getting zapped electronically from your doctor to the nearest drugstore, sparing you from having to hand over a slip of paper to a pharmacist. Imagine getting your lab and test results online, just days after your doctor got them.

Continue reading Health Care System: Feds Push New Paperless Effort


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]]>AllScriptsamerican hospital associationCenters for Medicare and Medicaideclinicalworkselectronic health recordselectronic medical recordsfluhealth and human serviceshealth and wellnesshealth reformhospitalsinfluenzamedical chartnationwide health information networkPractice FusionEric WahlgrenSun, 17 Jan 2010 12:00:00 ESTDo Running Shoes Make Us Run the Risk of Injury?http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/09/do-running-shoes-make-us-run-the-risk-of-injury/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/09/do-running-shoes-make-us-run-the-risk-of-injury/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/09/do-running-shoes-make-us-run-the-risk-of-injury/#commentsFiled under: ,

Runners spend $20 billion annually on running shoes, with many lacing up pairs that can cost as much as $200. But is all this fancy footwear really a good investment? A new musculoskeletal study finds that running with running shoes exerts significantly more stress on key joints than running barefoot, potentially increasing a runner's risk of developing disabilities such as osteoarthritis in the knees.

Continue reading Do Running Shoes Make Us Run the Risk of Injury?


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]]>arthritisberkshire hathawaybrooks sportscasey kerriganexerciseHigh Heelsjkm technologiesjoggerjoggingjoint degradationjointskneeknee injuryosteoarthritisrunnerrunners kneerunningrunning shoesEric WahlgrenSat, 09 Jan 2010 12:00:00 ESTBrunch Nation: Why It's Hottest Meal of the Yearhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/02/brunch-nation-why-its-hottest-meal-of-the-year/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/02/brunch-nation-why-its-hottest-meal-of-the-year/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/02/brunch-nation-why-its-hottest-meal-of-the-year/#commentsFiled under:

The recession has turned us into a people who brunch. It makes sense that in hard times, a restaurant outing that combines two meals into one would become as hot as jalapeño-cheddar frittata. The latest restaurant traffic numbers reflect the trend, with the number of brunch-goers rising more than 8% in 2009 (through August), while traffic for breakfast, lunch and dinner all collapsed like a botched soufflé, according to the market research firm NPD Group.

Continue reading Brunch Nation: Why It's Hottest Meal of the Year


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]]>breakfastbrunchdennysdiningdining outdinnerfine diningfood industryfrittataihoplunchrestaurantsrestaurateurEric WahlgrenSat, 02 Jan 2010 10:00:00 ESTThe New Homeless: Aspiring Web Developer Ends Up on San Francisco's Streetshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/28/the-new-homeless-aspiring-web-developer-ends-up-on-san-francisc/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/28/the-new-homeless-aspiring-web-developer-ends-up-on-san-francisc/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/28/the-new-homeless-aspiring-web-developer-ends-up-on-san-francisc/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Earlier this year, the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimated that 1.5 million people would be made homeless over the next two years as a result of the recession. In this series of profiles, DailyFinance speaks with some of the people who have fallen victim to layoffs, foreclosure, unforgiving creditors and plain old bad financial luck. Here are their stories.

The descent into homelessness can occur with terrifying speed. For Mike, a 33-year-old aspiring Web developer, it happened after an emergency loan from a relative suddenly fell through, driving his family out of a motel and onto the streets of San Francisco in September.

Continue reading The New Homeless: Aspiring Web Developer Ends Up on San Francisco's Streets


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]]>cheffirst avenuesGreat Recessionhamilton family centerhomelesshomeless manhomelessnessrecessionsan franciscotech industryunemploymentunemployment rateweb developerEric WahlgrenMon, 28 Dec 2009 12:30:00 ESTHealth Reform Leaves Millions Uninsured, and the Rest Must Waithttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/23/health-reform-will-leave-millions-uninsured-and-the-rest-must-w/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/23/health-reform-will-leave-millions-uninsured-and-the-rest-must-w/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/23/health-reform-will-leave-millions-uninsured-and-the-rest-must-w/#commentsFiled under: ,

Barack Obama made providing universal health care a key goal of his campaign and presidency. "We have decided that it's time to give every American quality health care at an affordable cost," Obama said as recently as June 11. But as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a health-care reform bill that would still leave 23 million people -- or nearly 8% of the U.S. population -- uninsured, it's becoming clear that the coverage being proposed would be far from universal.

Continue reading Health Reform Leaves Millions Uninsured, and the Rest Must Wait


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]]>Barack Obamadiabeteshealth insurancehealth reformhealth reform billheart diseaseHouse health care billinsurance exchangesPublic Optionsenate health care billtanning salonEric WahlgrenWed, 23 Dec 2009 18:00:00 ESTMajor buzzkill: Study finds caffeine won't sober you uphttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/09/major-buzzkill-study-finds-caffeine-wont-sober-you-up-if-your/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/09/major-buzzkill-study-finds-caffeine-wont-sober-you-up-if-your/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/09/major-buzzkill-study-finds-caffeine-wont-sober-you-up-if-your/#commentsFiled under:

With the holiday season upon us, a familiar end-of-party ritual is coming under fire. It turns out that drinking coffee after an evening of imbibing your favorite holiday cocktails doesn't actually sober you up, new research finds. In fact, caffeine may make matters worse: it can give you a false sense of your sobriety and your ability to, say, drive a car -- even though you're still just as intoxicated.

"Caffeine will make you less sleepy and maybe you are less likely to fall asleep behind the wheel, but it won't make you any less drunk," says the study's co-author Thomas Gould, an associate professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. "If you need to stop quickly, you are not going to have the braking time you normally have when you're sober. You are not going to be able to quickly and properly make choices."

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]]>3am vodkaalcoholcaffeinated alcoholcaffeinedrunk drivingFDAjooseMothers Against Drunk DrivingsobrietyTemple Universityunited brandswide eyesEric WahlgrenWed, 09 Dec 2009 14:45:00 ESTFor guys with a short sexual fuse, a new spray may help delay the grand finalehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/06/for-guys-with-a-short-sexual-fuse-a-new-spray-may-help-delay-th/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/06/for-guys-with-a-short-sexual-fuse-a-new-spray-may-help-delay-th/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/06/for-guys-with-a-short-sexual-fuse-a-new-spray-may-help-delay-th/#commentsFiled under:

Hollywood has long made light of premature ejaculation. Jason Biggs's scene in the teen movie American Pie is pretty typical: guy finally gets girl in bed for sex, only to pull the trigger before the long-awaited act even begins. While funny, perhaps, for movie audiences, these moments are no laughing matter for the estimated 20% to 30% of men of all ages -- not just teenage virgins -- who suffer from the problem.

But if a new drug passes regulatory muster, guys with a short sexual fuse may be able to last a bit longer. Sciele Pharma says results of a late-stage clinical trial show that men who used its topical spray PSD502 were able to delay ejaculation five times longer than those who used a placebo, or dummy treatment. "If the results hold up with further clinical experience, I think it will have a great future in the treatment of premature ejaculation," says Ira Sharlip, a spokesman for the American Urological Association.

Continue reading For guys with a short sexual fuse, a new spray may help delay the grand finale


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]]>CialisEli Lillypfizerpremature ejaculationSciele PharmaurologistviagraEric WahlgrenSun, 06 Dec 2009 10:00:00 ESTEmergency-room docs offer inside scoop: How to get treated faster, betterhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/29/emergency-room-docs-give-the-inside-scoop-how-to-get-treated-fa/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/29/emergency-room-docs-give-the-inside-scoop-how-to-get-treated-fa/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/29/emergency-room-docs-give-the-inside-scoop-how-to-get-treated-fa/#commentsFiled under:

You accidentally filet your finger with your sharpest kitchen knife. Your daughter breaks her arm at a gymnastics meet. Or the fool who's texting while driving totals your car -- with you in it. At some point in life, chances are you'll be taking a trip to the emergency room. Some 120 million Americans do every year. And it won't be a picnic.

Before seeing a doctor, expect to wait more than 55 minutes, the average ER wait time across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Show up on a busy night or weekend and the wait could drag on for several hours.

Continue reading Emergency-room docs offer inside scoop: How to get treated faster, better


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]]>american academy of emergency physiciansdoctoremergency physicianemergency roomerer doctorer storiesfalsehealth tipshospitalhospitalizationinsuranceurgent careEric WahlgrenSun, 29 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST