A series of troubling developments in California's individual health insurance market is bringing national attention to the problem of patients having their coverage taken away when they need it most.

Last month, an arbitration judge ordered California-based health insurer Health Net Inc. to pay $9 million to a cancer patient whose individual coverage was canceled during her chemotherapy treatments in 2004. The judge ordered Health Net to repay $129,000 worth of Patsy Bates' unpaid medical bills and awarded the 52-year-old hairdresser $8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress.

It's not just Health Net that's attracting scrutiny. Blue Cross of California, a unit of WellPoint, the nation's largest private health insurer, drew fire recently for sending letters to doctors asking them to verify patients' accounts of their health histories in their applications after the company already had approved their policies. Blue Cross has since stopped the letter campaign.

California's Department of Managed Health Care, which regulates the state's HMO plans, has been investigating consumer complaints about unfair rescissions since 2006. The agency has fined both Blue Cross and Health Net and is in the process of reviewing the practices of other companies that sell individual policies in the state, spokeswoman Lynne Randolph said.

"We don't think it is only happening in California...but California's farther ahead in terms of enforcement,"

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gasoline prices were poised Monday to set a new record at the pump, having surged to within half a cent of their record high of $3.227 a gallon. Oil prices, meanwhile, surged above $108 to a new inflation-adjusted record and their fifth new high in the last six sessions on an upbeat report on wholesale inventories.

The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 0.7 cent overnight to $3.222 a gallon, 69 cents higher than one year ago, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Last May, prices peaked at $3.227 as surging demand and a string of refinery outages raised concerns about supplies.

That record will likely be left in the dust soon as gas prices accelerate toward levels that could approach $4 a gallon, though most analysts believe prices will peak below that psychologically significant mark. In its last forecast, released last month, the Energy Department said prices will likely peak around $3.40 a gallon this spring; a new forecast is due Tuesday.

Retail gas prices are following crude oil, which has jumped 25 percent in a month. On Monday, crude prices surged to yet another record after the Commerce Department said wholesale sales jumped by 2.7 percent in January, their biggest increase in four years, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The strong sales report suggested to oil traders that the struggling economy may be doing better than

Question: I'm a young professional in my first job who anticipates being in the 28% tax bracket for at least the next five years, although I may move to a lower bracket after that. My company offers both a traditional 401(k) and a Roth 401(k). What proportion of my contribution should I put in the regular 401(k) and how much should go into the Roth? --Mike Davis

Answer: As more companies with 401(k)s begin offering a Roth option, more people are going to face the quandary you do now: Where should those 401(k) contributions go? Into the good old regular 401(k) where you contribute pre-tax dollars and then pay tax on your contributions and investment earnings at withdrawal? Or into the Roth 401(k) where you invest after-tax bucks but enjoy tax-free withdrawals in retirement?

I wish there were a simple formula I could give you to make this decision. Alas, there isn't. What I can do, though, is describe how each of the options works and explain the pros and cons of the two so that you can decide how to divvy up your contributions.

Regular 401(k)s vs. Roth 401(k)s

Mathematically there's no difference between the two. Let's say you're in the 25% tax bracket and you have $15,500 in pre-tax pay that you can contribute to your 401(k). Whether you put that $15,500 of pre-tax dollars into a regular 401(k) or pay $3,875 in taxes (25% x $15,500) and put the remaining

Whether you're a fund manager or individual investor it's important to re-purchase your stocks each and every day. What do I mean by that? It sounds like a lot of churning designed to feed the Wall Street Commission machine.

We must mentally go through the exercise of looking at our stocks with the eyes and temperament of a new investor. It is important to recognize that most of your stocks come with emotional baggage just like lovers, husbands and wives. Our winners have rewarded us in the past so our natural inclination is they can do no wrong and will continue their out-performance. The losers are the cheating lovers who have burned us time and time again and must be jettisoned at the first available opportunity.

Forget for the moment that your Freeport McMoRan (FCX) is up 100% and, yes, even forget that Citigroup (C) which you thought was a steal at 40 and is destroying your net worth each and every day. Lets focus. Look at your portfolio with the eyes and temperament of a new investor.

Pretend for the moment that you are starting off 100% in cash and you've decided to invest your hard-earned money in stocks.

Go through every one of your holdings and ask yourself this simple question. With the information I have in hand right now would I purchase this security today? Forget the fact that it is up or down. Forget