Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville) sponsored Senate Bill 31, which is now known as the Georgia Power tax. The controversial bill moved swiftly through both chambers and lander on Governor Perdue’s desk long before the session ended. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for May, 2009
A wetland never forgets it’s a wetland
In Georgia, for every two acres of trees cut down, about one acre of roads, parking lots, driveways and rooftops is added. Construction changes the way our land handles rainy weather, often increasing the size of floodplains for many streams, and creating new wetlands by changing drainage patterns.
Doug Everett – PSC Chairman
Commissioner District 1
deverett@psc.state.ga.us
Georgia Association of Flood Plain Management
The formation of GAFM is the result of the concerted efforts of numerous individuals and organizations sharing a common desire to forward the cause of sound floodplain management. Membership in GAFM is open to all professionals, public and private entities, students and citizens interested in or involved in floodplain, watershed, stormwater, wetlands and hazard mitigation management and/or related disciplines within the State of Georgia. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you paying too much for insurance? Are you tired of getting the run-around from your insurance companies? Download the I-Can Roadmap and learn how to steer clear of insurance pitfalls.
The less you know about your rights as an insurance consumer, the more of your money insurance companies will get. We can help you face your insurance companies on a level playing field. Read the rest of this entry »
It shouldn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that insurance companies are the reason doctors’ insurance rates have skyrocketed. Yet, doctor and hospital lobbying groups in Georgia have ignored the data about rising insurance rates and rising insurance industry profits. Read the rest of this entry »
The first few years of our new century brought hardship for American businesses and investors. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the stock market slumped, the airline industry still hasn’t recovered, thousands of Georgians lost their jobs, gave up expected pay raises, lost health insurance coverage, and fought for ways to keep their families’ budgets on track. Read the rest of this entry »
The insurance industry can no longer blame rising premiums on “frivolous” or “jackpot” claims, according to new reports of record-shattering profits. Read the rest of this entry »
Lawmakers must act to protect underprivileged Georgia communities from predatory tax preparers:
* The IRS currently requires tax preparers to disclose the financial terms of RALs, yet consumers continue to be duped into taking out high-interest loans at high costs because of the confusing financial fine print. Georgia law should force tax preparers to disclose the real terms of the loans in layman’s terms and strengthen penalties for tax preparers who fail to do so. This disclosure could be easily accomplished through fact sheets provided to consumers and displayed in plain sight in tax preparers’ offices. Read the rest of this entry »
Uninsured motorist (UM) insurance pays victims of car crashes for medical bills and property damage when the at-fault driver either has no insurance, or their insurance coverage is so low that it doesn’t fully cover the costs. Read the rest of this entry »
Paying to borrow your own money
Through Refund Anticipatory Loans (RALs) tax preparers, such as H&R Block, pressure consumers to take out high-interest loans carrying annual percentage rates as high as 700 percent. Most of these consumers are recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – which helps moderate the heavy income tax burden for poor families – whose households would benefit the most from this annual tax relief. Read the rest of this entry »
Paying on paid-off cars
Title pawn loans are short-term, high-interest loans that use a borrower’s car title as collateral. Title lenders often target poor communities and military installations with promises of hassle-free fast cash. In reality, borrowers often do not understand the ultimate price of their title loan – which is cryptically hidden in contracts with confusing financial language. Read the rest of this entry »
Not in our state
Payday lending was never legal in Georgia. But the penalty for offering payday loans was never harsh enough to deter lenders, nor did it give the police much incentive to enforce the law. Read the rest of this entry »
Since 2006, Georgia Watch has pushed the legislature to add more consumer members to the State Medical Board – members who work outside the medical profession. Consumer members help balance the interests on the board and improve the representation of average consumers in closed-door disciplinary hearings. Disciplinary hearings occur after alleged incidents of malpractice or negligence. Read the rest of this entry »
In 2005, several statewide advocacy groups promoted what we believe is a sound approach that would go a long way to lower malpractice premiums for doctors AND promote patient safety: House Bill 779, also known as The Consumer Right to Participate Act.
Read the rest of this entry »
As many as 195,000 people are killed by medical errors each year, according to health care consulting firm HealthGrades Inc. Even so, providing safer care for patients in doctors’ offices, hospitals and nursing homes is not a priority for many of our state leaders or the health care industry.
Hospital-acquired infections are one of the top ten leading causes of death in the U.S. and significantly increase the cost of health care. Read the rest of this entry »
Hope Now – Alliance of HUD-approved counseling agents, mortgage companies, investors and other mortgage market participants that provides free foreclosure prevention assistance.
Call 888-995-HOPE or visit www.hopenow.com
Read the rest of this entry »
*Source: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
1. Don’t ignore the problem.
The further behind you become, the harder it will be to reinstate your loan and the more likely that you will lose your house. Read the rest of this entry »
Currently in Georgia, one in eight home loans is past due and on the verge of foreclosure. While the subprime market represents just 13 percent of all outstanding loans in Georgia, subprime foreclosures accounted for 40 percent of the total number of Georgia foreclosures in the first quarter of 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Uncategorized
Credit freeze is the only effective, proactive tool to stop new account fraud, one of the most damaging forms of identity theft. A freeze allows consumers to bar access to their credit files with the three major credit reporting agencies (CRAs), prohibiting identity thieves from fraudulently opening new accounts or lines of credit in a victim’s name. Read the rest of this entry »
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that there are 263,000 individual incidents of identity theft in Georgia each year, which ranks seventh in the nation in victims per capita. The financial cost to the victim is more than $1,000 per incident of identity theft, in addition to countless hours of letter writing and phone calls. The cost to business is more than $10,000 per incident.
Health care is one market where consumers are perpetually at a disadvantage and are consistently denied the fundamental options and choices that are available in other consumer-driven industries.
While there are many different causes for this lack of consumer control, one major factor is the absence of straightforward and clear information. For health care consumers, details on the most basic information – such as pricing and financial assistance eligibility – are scarce.
The majority of hospitals in the state are tax-exempt organizations, and are obligated to their communities to provide some level of financial assistance, either through their participation in Medicaid and/or their offering of financial assistance to needy patients. The latter is generally referred to as “community benefits” and include charity and indigent care.
In return, these facilities are typically subsidized by state and local governments. For example, tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals do not pay most taxes, including sales, income and property. Because of this, tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals do not contribute to vital local infrastructure, such as road and sewer maintenance, or firefighter and police forces, even though they utilize these services.
But, some hospitals participate in practices that are questionable in regards to proper stewardship of our foregone tax dollars, such as maintaining large reserves of cash and paying its executives wages that are similar to that of Fortune 500 companies while charging self-pay/uninsured patients significantly inflated charges that often puts care out of reach.
For example, many tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals in Georgia charge uninsured patients a significantly higher cost for services than average payments received from most third party payers, such as private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. While most hospitals offer financial assistance, some do not alert patients to the availability of this assistance. In addition, many hospitals employ aggressive collection tactics when a patient bill.
All hospitals are unique – some are leaders in community betterment while others are underperformers in regards to financial programs for indigent and nearly poor patients. As a consumer advocacy group, we feel it is our role to examine the financial practices of hospitals, especially facilities who act as a ‘safety net’ in their communities, in order to provide clear and transparent information for our state’s healthcare consumers.
Because of this, in 2007, Georgia Watch began authoring an ongoing series of reports that examine the finances and community offerings of hospitals in the state. The research and analysis is based on figures reported by the hospital to the IRS, the US Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and other publicly available sources.
Hospitals are already examined are:
- Memorial University Medical Center (Savannah)
- Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (Albany)
- Northside Hospital (Atlanta)
- Medical Center of Central Georgia(Macon)
- Floyd Medical Center (Rome)
- Northeast Georgia Medical Center (Gainesville)
What is the Indigent Care Trust Fund?
The Indigent Care Trust Fund (ICTF) is a state-sponsored program that subsidizes care for low-income individuals at participating hospitals. This subsidized care is available on both an inpatient and outpatient basis, regardless of whether there is an emergency. It can either cover an entire bill or just a portion, depending on income. The hospital must treat these patients the same as any other patient. The hospitals receive a certain amount of money each year to provide this care.
What are hospitals required to do if they receive this money? Hospitals participating in the ICTF must:
- Treat low-income patient for free or on a sliding scale;
- Notify patients being admitted to the hospital as well as the public that it receives ICTF funds;
- Let patients know how to apply for help from the ICTF;
- Have a written financial policy available to the public upon request;
- Not require eligible patients to pay a deposit upon admittance to the hospital;
- Help patients apply for ICTF funds before or after treatment; and,
- Help patients from any county in Georgia, regardless of whether that is the county where they live.
What does the ICTF exclude? For most hospitals, the ICTF does not cover doctor bills or Medicare deductibles.
How do I apply? You can call the hospital’s business office and ask for the person who handles patient accounts or billings, or the hospital’s social worker, if they have one. Once you have contacted the hospital and completed an application, the hospital has five business days to make a decision as to whether you are eligible for free or sliding scale care. You can also complete this application at the hospital.
What do I do if the hospital rejects my application?
Ask the hospital to reconsider your application. If they deny you again, you have the right to appeal to the state for eligibility.
How can I appeal? Send a written complaint to the Department of Community Health (DCH) explaining why you feel the hospital was wrong in denying your application, and request that DCH asks the hospital to change its decision. You will also need to send a complaint to the hospital.
Send the appeal to:
Indigent care Trust Fund, Hospital Reimbursement Services
Department of Community Health
PO Box 38490
Two Peachtree Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303-3159
Phone: (404) 463-5827 or (877) 261-3117
For more information contact Hospital Accountability Project Manager Holly Lang at (404) 525-1085 or via email at hlang@georgiawatch.org
Weatherization, behavioral changes and energy efficient products – help mitigate increasing costs of energy by lowering consumption.
Leaks:
Reducing drafts save you 5% to 30% on electric bills per year. To find leaks, close all windows/doors and turn on exhaust fans (usually located in kitchen and bathroom). Read the rest of this entry »
The Consumer Energy Program is working to make sure stimulus money coming to the sate are used for the best possible energy programs. Stipulations in President Obama’s stimulus package will provide $130 million to Georgia for weatherization assistance programs, including attic insulation, reduction of air leakage around doors, basement insulation and heating system repairs or replacement.
Read the rest of this entry »
In 2005 , the Georgia General Assembly delivered a present to Big Insurance, the hospital and medical lobbies, and corporate giants Georgia Pacific, Home Depot, Georgia Power and Coca-Cola. It was called Senate Bill 3, and it severely changed the state’s justice system.