In Brief

By Julie Rawe

LAWYERS FOR ALL Is your company one of the increasing number that offer prepaid legal plans through payroll deductions? Set up like HMOs, the plans use networks of lawyers to handle estate planning, real estate transactions and other basics. (Divorce is extra.) Some examples: Hyatt Legal Plans, owned by MetLife, charges $13.50 a month; Legal Club of America provides free and discounted services for $8 a month.

MANAGED CARE If you are one of the 6.3 million Medicare recipients enrolled in an HMO, you can expect to pay more for prescription drugs next year. On average, co-payments are expected to rise 21% for brand-name drugs, 8% for generic drugs. Some HMO's are also tightening annual caps for Medicare recipients: 32% of the plans will set the limit at $500 or less. That's up from 21% in 1999. Should investors dump big drug stocks like Merck? Analysts say the higher costs won't apply to enough consumers to hurt stock prices.

WIRELESS WOES In most countries, the calling party pays for a wireless call. That's fair, but it doesn't happen here. Wireless callers and receivers both pay. And that won't change until the many wireless companies can create a unified billing policy. Good luck. AT&T tested a caller-pays system in Minneapolis this summer but charged rates that were too high to compete with its own Digital One plan, which bills at 11[cents] a minute. End of test. So if you answer the call, you'll pay.

--By Julie Rawe