April 4, 2012 – RI Future

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Lt. Gov, Whitehouse to Talk Obamacare To Commission

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Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts will update the Rhode Island Health Care Exchange Commission on what a Supreme Court decision on President Obama’s universal health care plan could mean for the Ocean State. And her special guest at the meeting with be Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

“We’ll definitely have a brief discussion about it,” she said. “I’m sure people will ask the Senator about it.”

Roberts, who has led the effort in Rhode Island to implement Obama’s Affordable Care Act, said this state’s model Health Benefits Exchange will likely survive regardless of what the Supreme Court decides Obamacare.

“If a mandate is ruled unconstitutional we still very much have a path here in Rhode Island,” she said, adding that even if insurance reforms are struck down by the court, “those are mostly existing consumer protections under state law.”

Because Rhode Island has a guaranteed issue law on the books means no one can be denied access to the Exchange.

If the Medicaid expansion is ruled unconstitutional, on the other hand, “that means we are where we were a few years ago and we wouldn’t be able to move as quickly towards universal coverage.”

Roberts doesn’t think that will happen though.

“I’m not a constitutional lawyer,” she said. “But I’m very optimistic those will remain in place.”

So long as the Medicare subsidies remain in place, Roberts said, “we won’t have to compel people into the marketplace.” States that don’t have guaranteed health insurance, such as the case across the South and Southwest would have a harder time because insurance companies can legally deny people coverage there.

Rhode Island is leading the nation in implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It’s the first and only state to receive a second grant from the federal government, according to Governing Magazine, worth $58.5 million.

In total, Rhode Island has procured about $65 million from ACA funds, and Roberts said she believes that money is safe.

“We should be able to help people regardless of how the Supreme Court rules,” she said.

Much of it will be used to create the database and web portal for the Health Exchange, she said.

Whitehouse, will be there to discuss a report he released last week entitled, “Health Care Delivery System Reform and The Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act,” highlighting progress in this area and the potential for improving patient care and lowering costs.

The Health Insurance Exchange meets Thursday morning at 8:30 at Alger Hall, Room 110, at Rhode Island College.

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Martin Luther King Would Have Occupied PVD Today

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In honor of the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Occupy Providence will hold a rally today “to carry on the great work of this fallen leader who was cut down in his prime for nothing less than his commitment to a fair and just world for all humanity ,” according to a press release from the group.

The rally will be from 4 to 6 pm today on the steps of Providence City Hall.

According to the release:

“At a time when the majority of Americans realize the injustice and corruption of the current system, it is important to commemorate this legendary organizer who spearheaded our last powerful social movement to stand up to the 1% and their system of social, economic and civil injustice with a unity rally- both as a tribute and as an organizing event. Speakers will address the pressing needs for change that we have today in the areas that MLK fought so hard for- Freedom and Equality, Jobs and Human Needs, Peace and Solidarity. Pressing Civil Rights issues like the murder of Trayvon Martin and attacks on the 99% that are working people whose services, jobs and rights to organize are under attack and the call for a new system based on non-violent conflict resolution and peaceful co-existence all need to be urgently changed.”

The group put together this video to promote the action:

April 4, 2012

Litigation Lending: Payday Loans for Plaintiffs

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marcello litigation loans — Rep. Michael Marcello addresses litigation lending at a recent State House briefing.

While payday loans have garnered a lot of attention at the State House this session, the legislature is also considering new regulations on another form of predatory lending – this one is known as litigation lending.

Litigation lending is the term used when a company will loan a potential plaintiff in a lawsuit money up front in hopes of being repaid – with huge interest rates – once a settlement is reached. It may seem like a benevolent service, but it often doesn’t end up being a benefit for the people who use these loans.

“These lenders charge outrageous interest rates to people who – as a result of an injury are in desperate straights – unable to work, without the funds they need to support their families and often facing enormous healthcare bills,” said Donald Migliori, the president of the Rhode Island Association for Justice, a group that advocates for consumer rights in the judicial system.

Rep. Michael Marcello, a Scituate Democrat, has sponsored a bill that would cap interest rates on such loans at 21 percent. Currently, the interest rates on these loans can be as high as 200 percent.

Referencing the payday loan bills, Marcello said yesterday, “This is just one more line for consumer protection.”

To understand just how predatory litigation loans are, one need look no farther than how they came to be. According to a recent article in the Rhode Island Bar Journal, “the origins of the [litigation finance company] industry are illuminating.”

A former Las Vegas loan shark and mobile home park developer named Perry Walton came up with the concept in 1998 after pleading guilty to “extortionate collection of debt” in another scheme, according to the Bar Journal.

“Walton began loaning money to plaintiffs, structuring these advances as ‘contingent obligations’ in order to sidestep usury laws,” according to the Bar Journal. “He then invited would-be lenders to seminars, charging as much as $12,400 to impart the secret of his lucrative new scheme. Two years later, 400 people has been trained by Walton and a new subprime industry was born.”

The Bar Journal referenced an example of a man who was injured at work and brought suit but needed surgery well before a settlement could be reached. He borrowed $25,000 from LawCash for the surgery. Because the 3.85 percent interest rate compounded monthly, he ended up owing $48.94 in interest daily. The man earned $80 a day prior to his accident.

“Every day, in every state, persons who have been injured by others’ negligence turn to [litigation loans] for desperately needed funds,” according to the Bar Journal. “It is only reasonable that they not be further victimized by usurious loans.”

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Obamacare, Broccoli and the Supreme Court

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Antonin Scalia observes in court that the government cannot compel a citizen to purchase broccoli, and the government’s lawyers are Struck Dumb. They clearly do not spend time in my local pub. Every week some bonehead appears there with the “broccoli” canard. And there is a simple answer to that stupid assertion:

The government can bomb Pakistan with drones; the government can declare one man the property of another; the government can intern Japanese citizens; the government can declare a corporation a citizen; the government can tax your income at 99 cents on the dollar; the government can make it OK to shoot unarmed strangers in your neighborhood; the government can declare who is President without regard to the popular vote or to the Constitution.

Yes, Antonin. The government can make you buy broccoli.

I practice law in the trenches with ordinary people for clients. Ask them what the government can make you do. You have to be willfully blind to think our government lacks the power to make you buy broccoli. Willful blindness can, of course, be useful to a Supreme Court justice.

This is how John Locke describes government: Government is the power of coercion, up to death, to compel citizens to act for the common good (2nd Treatise of Civil Government, §3). Your “freedom” is the freedom to elect the government that coerces you—a government for the people or a government for the privileged. That is the beginning and end of your freedom, Judge Scalia.

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

No Red Carpet for Needy Families, Immigrants

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For years, a staple of talk radio hosts and budget hardliners has been the argument that Rhode Island public policy on welfare and public assistance has made the state a magnet for families, particularly immigrants, seeking its juicy benefits.

But the recent release of the Rhode Island Kids Count 2011 annual report pokes some neat holes in that meme.

Along with a comprehensive statistical analysis of issues including poverty rates of Rhode Island’s families with children, education, school lunch and breakfast eligibility and state aid (with emphasis on the urban core communities of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Woonsocket) comes an under-reported nugget from the 2010 Census: the number of R.I. children dropped 10 percent last year, from 247,822 to 223,956, the third-biggest decrease by state in the nation.

Couple that with the state’s 11 percent unemployment rate and high rental average, and the state’s not exactly a major draw for needy families who are seeking jobs, reasonable living costs and social services.

“That 10 percent drop is telling,” says Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of RI Kids Count. “People tend to move because of extended family, or to be close to where the jobs are.”

“While there’s a significant decline in the caseload of children and families receiving assistance, it’s due to time limits and other indicators, and is not reflective of the number of poor children in the state,” she adds.

An Urban Institute state-by-state study of immigrant children from 1990 to 2009 also finds immigrant families, documented or undocumented, aren’t exactly flocking to Rhode Island.

From 1990 to 2009, the number of immigrant children in the state grew from 40,000 to 52,000, with the percentage of the state’s total number of children rising from 18 to 24 percent. That growth rate of 30 percent in raw numbers, however, ranked only 47^th in the nation.

The difficult housing market is another reason families requiring social services aren’t overwhelming the state, says Stephanie Geller, RI Kids Count policy analyst.

The average monthly cost of rental housing in the state has risen from $748 in 2000 to $1,150 by 2011, according to the Kids Count report, with about 25 percent of Rhode Island’s families spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing costs.

“There’s a feeling overall that the price of housing is going down, but there’s more demand for rentals because of people losing their houses. We’re one of the few states that doesn’t have a dedicated source of funding for affordable housing.” Geller says.

Some of the pending General Assembly legislation Kids Count is keeping an eye on, Geller says, includes increases in co-payments for child care assistance and cuts in dental care assistance for both young adults and adults 21 and over.