Talk back

Readers respond to Work & Money and Business section coverage

Insurers inflict their own damage after a car crash

Regarding "Cars crash: Here come the lawyers" (Work&Money, June 29): Vicki Lee Parker correctly states that most people don't have a clue what to do following an auto accident. I would add that most people don't have a clue what the legal interpretations by the courts have done either. I was severely injured in an auto accident in December, with medical expenses exceeding the liability coverage of the other driver. I had health insurance, underinsured motorist coverage and medical payment auto coverage.

It was shocking to learn that decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit enable self-funded ERISA health insurance plans to take any benefits available to an injured party -- including your own underinsured motorist coverage and medical payment -- to make themselves whole for payouts made on your behalf. In fact, they can even take funds that may be needed for lifetime care or funds placed in trust for special-needs individuals, leaving the injured party with large out-of-pocket expenses.

No longer does the insurer assume risk in exchange for payment. You now have both the payment and the risk. The difficult decision facing anyone injured in an auto accident is finding the right lawyer who is willing and able to take on the appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court to right these dreadful wrongs. (Note: I am not a lawyer. I am just a concerned citizen who has learned the hard way.)

Carole Stephens

Cary

Uneasy about N&O changes

Thanks for your article today on the (my word) "demise" of the Business section of The N&O ("A new section for a new era," Business, June 28). It has been the first thing I read every weekday morning for decades. My hats-off and thanks to all the great staff who have made my mornings, especially in retirement. I have been able to read from cover to cover.

I am very, very, very uneasy about the changes to The N&O. Those of us who do not read online are losing our N&O. I understand what is happening, but grieve the loss.

Roscoe Reeve

Chapel Hill

How about shrinking prices, too?

This is in response to your column of June 28 describing the many changes being made to the newspaper to which I have subscribed since moving here in 1984. But I have a question. Since it's obvious that the newspaper contains much less content than it did in previous years, I'm wondering when the reduced subscriber rate will be announced? With almost no local reporting and with full-page advertising replacing much printed content, it seems we subscribers deserve a break in what we pay for the much-reduced size paper, and perhaps even a financial motivation to continue our subscriptions.

Charles E. Becker

Raleigh

A bodice-ripper for BofA?

In the June 27 Business section , there was an Associated Press article about Bank of America's takeover of Countrywide Financial ("BofA cutting 7,500 jobs after merger"). The article stated that Countrywide's business had been "ravished" by a spike in bad loans. Interesting! "Ravish" is a word more often associated with bodice-ripping romance novels than with the mortgage business. I suspect the desired word was "ravaged." Perhaps The N&O has laid off one too many copy editors?

Steve Clark

Cary