If you're one of the growing number of people who work for yourself or can't get health insurance through your job, now you've got another option. The Freelancers Union, a New York-based organization for self-employed workers, contractors, part-timers, and others who don't have an employer providing them with benefits, rolled out health insurance policies in 30 states this week. But there's a catch: These plans don't offer the same protections or benefits as the group plans many workers get through their employers. You may be turned down by the insurer for medical reasons, and even if you're approved your coverage may be more limited than you'd get elsewhere.
In the end, there was no loud burst, or even a sharp pop. Instead, the springtime aftermath of the nation's housing bubble is sounding "more like a whoopee cushion," says June Fletcher, author of House Poor: How to Buy and Sell Your Home Come Bubble or Bust. "The air is coming out of the market, but slowly."
AP - President Bush, denounced by tens of thousands of anti-American protesters on the streets of Rome, defended his humanitarian record on Saturday to Pope Benedict XVI, who expressed concern about "the worrisome situation in Iraq."
AP - A suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber rammed a speeding gasoline truck into an Iraqi army checkpoint outside the capital on Saturday, killing at least 14 soldiers as militants hammered the country's shaky security forces.
AP - With a 4-inch gap in the space shuttle Atlantis' heat-protecting blanket not appearing to be an urgent problem on Saturday, the crew readied themselves for what NASA called a delicate ballet with the international space station.
Heiress and entrepreneur Paris Hilton said Saturday she has directed her attorneys not to appeal a judge's Friday decision sending her back to jail following her brief release on home detention.
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