Television: Like Combs, staging lacks greatness

At a time when classic drama on TV is defined by the elimination round on Survivor, it’s a pleasant surprise to see ABC turn over three hours of prime-time real estate on Monday to A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking play about alcoholism, bitterness, class, racism and almost everything else that gets in […]

New York investigation may distract, cost UnitedHealth

A day after New York’s attorney general took aim at UnitedHealth Group’s health-care reimbursement procedures, the ultimate financial implications for the nation’s largest insurer were yet to come into focus.
But there is little doubt that Andrew Cuomo’s probe has handed company executives a significant distraction and a bit of a black eye.
Although some analysts believe […]

National business briefs

MGIC shares shed 11% on report of huge loss
Shares of MGIC Investment Corp. dropped 11 percent, after the Milwaukee-based mortgage insurance company said that it lost $1.47 billion in the fourth quarter, believed to be the largest quarterly loss by a public company in Wisconsin. MGIC, which has been battered by the collapse of the […]

Fixit: Register with DMA to curtail junk mail

Q Can I stop getting all those catalogs and credit card offers in the mail?
A You can reduce them by registering with Direct Marketing Association to have your name removed from their mailing lists. To do that:
%26bull; Register online at www.dmachoice.org. Click on Remove My Name From Those Lists in the left-side menu. Although […]

Andrew Cuomo in the headlines

The office of Andrew Cuomo, attorney general for the state of New York, has been the source of a number of major consumer and civil investigations in recent years, including:
%26bull; 2002 - 2003: An investigation of Wall Street investment firms resulted in a $1.4 billion settlement by 10 firms accused of conflict of interest in […]

UnitedHealth accused of shortchanging patients

Led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a phalanx of interests charged Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth and its Ingenix division with denying millions of dollars in claims for millions of Americans when they use doctors outside of their insurer’s network.
Cuomo said Wednesday that he plans to sue UnitedHealth, launch an industrywide investigation into billing procedures and […]

Health care remains a top voter concern

Health care remains a top voter concern. Here’s some help on candidates’ stated positions:
Q Will all Americans be covered by health insurance?
Clinton: Yes. Huckabee, McCain, Obama: No.
Clinton would mandate that all individuals have health insurance. She has not specified how this would be enforced. Obama proposes a stepped approach starting with a mandate to cover […]

Ingenix

Headquarters: Eden Prairie
Revenues: $1.65 billion
Employees: 4,500 worldwide
Clients: Insurance companies, physicians, hospitals, private business, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, government agencies.
Provides: consumer tools, claims-processing data, fraud detection, risk forecasting, disease prevention programs, management of coding and reimbursement systems.

National business briefs

Circuit City to cut home-installation jobs
Struggling electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. said Monday it is shrinking its home installation business in response to the nationwide slowdown in home construction. Over four months, Circuit City will cut 67 jobs of workers who prewire new single-family homes, spokesman Jim Babb said.
Delta again drops $10 fuel […]

Nick Coleman: State of the Ace: Problems in spades putting state in a hole

ST. CLOUD - Gov. Tim Pawlenty gave Minnesota a sloppy Valentine on Wednesday, telling a hand-picked audience at the St. Cloud Civic Center that we have an unstoppable forward momentum toward greatness.
Greatness was the message of his State of the State Address — delivered to a small audience of invited big shots (and 75 empty […]