Consumers

Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act

hmoroz — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:18:44 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:04:32 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of uninsured Americans in 2008: 45.7 million

Estimated number of uninsured Americans after passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act: 18 million

Percentage growth in the uninsured between 2004 and 2007 that came from lower- and middle-income families: 70

Average annual worker contribution to health insurance premiums in employer-sponsored coverage in 1999: $1,543

Average annual worker contribution to health insurance premiums in employer-sponsored coverage in 2008: $3,354

Savings to a low-income family and a higher-income family, respectively, from the Affordable Health Care for America Act because they do not have to buy private, nongroup insurance: $9,000, $1,260

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Skyrocketing health care costs have created a vicious and destabilizing trap for middle-class Americans in which employer-sponsored coverage is offered less frequently and private coverage is increasingly unaffordable. Meanwhile, successful public programs that effectively cover children (SCHIP), the poor (Medicaid), and the elderly (Medicare) are unavailable to middle-class adults. Almost 46 million nonelderly Americans lack health insurance, the majority of whom are low- and middle-income, and the rate of the uninsured has grown significantly since 2000. At the same time, the average worker’s health care premium has increased 128% (to $3,515) since 2009. One study has even found that just shy of two thirds of all bankruptcies are due to medical expenses even though the vast majority of these bankruptcies involve families who have health insurance. Because employers, too, have had to absorb similar premium increases, employer-sponsored insurance – the type of insurance most middle-class Americans obtain – has declined significantly in each of the last eight years. The economic downturn has exacerbated this situation and experts estimate that each percentage point increase in the unemployment rate results in substantial increases in the number of uninsured Americans. Given the high costs of obtaining insurance in the private, non-group market, which is nearly impossible without steady employment, many Americans have simply given up coverage over the last several years. In short, a perfect storm of increasing health care costs and a down economy has undermined the financial stability and endangered the wellbeing of the middle class and the aspiring middle class.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act would do much to relieve the financial stress placed on these households by high health insurance costs while also extending health coverage to millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reckons that the bill would reduce the number of uninsured to 18 million, leaving just 4 percent of the population without health coverage. Expanding Medicaid to cover low-income adults is one of the most effective and cost-efficient means of covering more aspiring middle-class Americans. The expansion would enroll about 15 million individuals in Medicaid, providing an important public backstop for low-income families. Indeed, public programs have successfully kept millions of children from becoming uninsured, while the lack of such programs for low-income childless adults has led to increased numbers of the uninsured among this population. Similarly, coverage in the Health Insurance Exchange would reduce health care costs for tens of millions of households: the savings range from more than $9,000 for a low-income household of four which receives payment assistance to $1,260 for a higher-income family making more than $90,000 that does not receive such assistance. Such savings are targeted at the very groups that need the most help. The inclusion of a public option in the Exchange, in which a relatively meager 6 million individuals are expected to enroll, will create competition with the Exchange’s private insurance plans driving costs even lower.

At the same time as it helps reduce health care costs for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans, the Affordable Health Care for America Act greatly improves health coverage by enacting strict requirements for the type of insurance that is offered. The bill prevents the nightmare scenarios of being denied coverage just because you have become sick or being forced to pay higher premiums because of a preexisting condition (in many policies, being a woman is effectively considered a preexisting condition). Eventually, it will define minimum benefits and cost limits that must be included in all health insurance plans, not just ones offered by the Health Insurance Exchange. And it will ensure that health insurers do not use premiums to pay for administrative costs and profits, instead of medical care. In this way, affordable and adequate health insurance that protects individuals and their families during both normal medical events and extraordinary medical hardship will be available to all aspiring middle-class and middle-class households.

Finally, the Act contains cost-cutting strategies to reduce the impact of health care costs on the budget deficit and additional measures to reorient health care delivery to quality, preventive care and away from costly and unnecessary overtreatment. Eliminating overpayments to Medicare Advantage, the ill-advised, Bush-era privatization of a chunk of Medicare, and empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate Medicare drug prices are effective ways to cut costs without weakening coverage. The tax surcharge on the wealthiest Americans, who benefited most from the economic growth of the 2000s and who are weathering the current economic downturn best, is a sensible method of increasing access to and the affordability of health insurance coverage in a fiscally responsible manner.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Health Reform,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“House Health Reform Bill Expands Coverage And Lowers Health Cost Growth, While Reducing Deficits,” from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

“Competitive Health Care: A Public Health Insurance Plan That Delivers Market Discipline,” from the Center for American Progress Action Fund

“The Treatment,” A Health Care Reform Blog from The New Republic

Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009

hmoroz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:57:51 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Effective date of most provisions of the originally introduced version of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act: 3 months after passage

Effective date of most provisions of the version of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act that was signed into law: 9 months to 15 months after passage

Percentage of credit cards from the 12 largest banks that use practices deemed “unfair or deceptive” by the Federal Reserve: 100

Median advertised range of APRs for credit cards issued in December of 2008: 9.99%-15.99%

Median advertised range of APRs for credit cards issued in July of 2009, after the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act’s passage: 12.24%-17.99%

Maximum annual fee instituted by Citigroup in August that is imposed when a cardholder does not spend enough: $90

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act was a major step forward for consumer protections. The legislation ended the most insidious practices employed by credit card companies, protecting consumers from policies that can keep them mired in debt despite their best efforts to dig themselves out. However, the Act delayed implementation of these vital consumer protections for over a year in some cases, allowing card companies to raise interest rates, increase fees, and jack up minimum payments in the meantime. The Pew Safe Credit Cards Project finds that many credit card companies worsened their treatment of consumers in anticipation of the legislation. The Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act would ensure that these unfair and deceptive practices end immediately. Although the bill will not aid consumers whose interest rates and fees have been raised in recent months, the Act will prevent card companies from continuing to intensify the financial strain on households already struggling to make ends meet.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“H.R. 2382, the Credit Card Interchange Fees Act of 2009 and H.R. 3639, the Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act,” Hearing of the House Financial Services Committee

“Still Waiting: ‘Unfair or Deceptive’ Credit Card Practices Continue as Americans Wait for New Reforms to Take Effect,” from Pew Safe Credit Cards Project

“Modernizing Consumer Protection in the Financial Regulatory System: Strengthening Credit Card Protections,” from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:09:36 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:05:27 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2009

hmoroz — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:52:31 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

hmoroz — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:47:37 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of cases of illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that are caused each year by foodborne disease: 76 million; 325,000; 5,000

Percentage of consumers that said they were confident that the food supply was safer than a year ago after the January 2009 salmonella outbreak: 22.5

Average frequency of the Food and Drug Administration’s inspection of food establishments: Once every ten years

Number of countries the typical American meal includes food from: 6

Number of Americans and Canadians sickened and killed, respectively, by Salmonella-contaminated peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America between September 2008 and March 2009: 691; 9

Estimated annual cost in medical expenses, lost productivity, and pain and suffering due to foodborne pathogens: $357 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. The outdated, overstretched, and underfunded food safety system continues to put middle-class consumers at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. The Food and Drug Administrations is responsible for overseeing 80 percent of the food supply. Yet, much of this food never passes under the watchful eye of an inspector. While Department of Agriculture inspectors visit meat and poultry processing plants at least once a day, FDA inspectors average an inspection visit to a food facility once every ten years. Further, the current food safety system is reactive: current regulations mean that the agency springs into action only after an outbreak of illness. Recently, 691 individuals were sickened and 9 died from an outbreak of Salmonella in contaminated peanut products while health officials struggled to determine the source of the hazardous food.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act would modernize the food safety system to protect middle-class Americans who are increasingly concerned about the integrity of the food they eat. More frequent inspections – at least once every 18 months for high-risk facilities – and expanded access to records during these inspections would keep food plants honest, while the requirement for each facility to develop a food safety plan would shift the emphasis of the food safety system to preventing outbreaks of foodborne illness. More detailed descriptions of product origin will assist efforts to stem outbreaks and the FDA’s mandatory recall authority will be a vital tool to ensure that the public is protected if an outbreak does occur. The collection of registration fees adds an important source of funding for the expanded oversight activities. The Food Safety Enhancement Act will help make middle-class families safer and reinspire confidence in the food safety system.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Testimony of Carol L. Tucker-Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America on the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, before the Subcommittee on Health of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce

“Food Safety,” from the Center for Science in the Public Interest

“Food,” from Consumers Union

United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 2006

hmoroz — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:53:35 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Opposes

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Date on which President Bush boasted that the Oman trade deal would “provide additional market access for U.S. goods”: 9/19/2006

Estimated Gross Domestic Product of Oman in 2006: $44.53 billion

Estimated Gross Metropolitan Product of the Memphis, TN area in 2005: $56.69 billion

Date on which the current Omani head of state, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said first assumed office: 7/23/1970

Estimated percentage of increased inequality of earnings in the U.S. in 2006 attributable to trade policy: 7

Minimum annual loss this represents to the typical married couple household in the U.S.: $2,000

Approximate proportion of U.S. workers whose jobs are potential targets for off-shoring if present trade policies continue over the next two decades: 1 in 4

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Opposes. Increased international trade can contribute to economic growth, but the way trade rules are formulated in agreements like this means that the benefits of trade are distributed unevenly, ultimately undermining the middle class and aspiring middle class in both the U.S. and the nations it trades with. A central problem is that the Oman trade agreement empowers businesses and investment capital to cross international borders more easily, providing a decisive advantage over working people who are not so internationally mobile and whose rights are not well protected in Oman. Despite recent reforms to the Omani labor code, independent unions are still banned. There are also concerns about human trafficking and involuntary servitude among the more than half a million guestworkers from nations including India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines who make up the bulk of the Omani workforce. This imbalance of power creates incentives to move U.S. jobs overseas and puts downward pressure on the wages of American workers as they are placed in more direct competition with poorly-paid, disempowered Omani workers.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Final Text of the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement," from the Office of the United States Trade Representative

“U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement,” from the Citizens Trade Campaign

“U.S.-Oman FTA,” from Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch

Insurance Industry Competition Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:23:20 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009

hmoroz — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:31:08 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Total revolving debt – made up mostly by credit card debt – in January of 2003: $756 billion

Total revolving debt in January of 2009: $976 billion

Number of mailed credit card offerings in 1990: 1.1 billion

Number of mailed credit card offerings in 2005: 6.06 billion

Number of mailed credit card offerings in 2008: 3.8 billion

Minimum percentage increase in the average late fee between 1995 and 2005, adjusted for inflation: 80

Amount of fees charged to credit card customers in 2002: $10.7 billion

Amount of fees charged to credit card customers in 2007: $33 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Many middle-class Americans rely on credit cards to meet daily expenses. Revolving debt – which mostly stems from credit cards – has increased 66% since 2000 . 80% of U.S. households have at least one credit card and more than 55% of households carried an outstanding balance in 2004. Since credit is increasingly necessary to fund a middle-class standard of living, credit card companies have been able to take advantage of their customers. As credit has become scarcer and card companies more concerned about maintaining their bottom line during the financial crisis, card companies have hiked interest rates even on cardholders with excellent credit.

Consumers have been slapped with excessive and obscure fees and interest charges that, if they are explained at all, are described in small text and confusing language. It is now common practice for credit card companies to apply finance charges twice in a billing cycle (double-cycle billing); to raise interest rates on a credit card for credit problems not associated with that card (universal default); to charge multiple over-the-limit fees; and to apply payments on balances with multiple interest rates to the balance with the lowest rate, all practices banned or restricted under this bill. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Right ends the most insidious practices employed by credit card companies, protecting consumers from policies that can keep them mired in credit card debt despite their best efforts to dig themselves out.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Modernizing Consumer Protection in the Financial Regulatory System: Strengthening Credit Card Protections,” from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

“Reining In Credit Card Abuses,” from U.S. Public Interest Research Group

“The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights,” by Adam Levitin of CreditSlips

Consumers

Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009