NCL #DataInsecurity Project – National Consumers League

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databreach.jpgNCL recently debuted the first issue of The #DataInsecurity Digest, a twice monthly publication curated by NCL’s own, John Breyault, to deliver important consumer-focused data security news, policy and news analysis, and information about upcoming events directly to your inbox. Click here to subscribe.

In 2013, there were 614 data breaches that led to more than 550 million identities compromised. New data breaches means more identity theft and other fraud, and more consumers facing financial loss, great inconvenience, and a loss of trust in the marketplace. That is why NCL is working on the #DataInsecurity Project — to raise awareness about the need for reforms aimed at better protecting consumer data.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6GD9UNbgAs&list=UUXfyCJGEBaMOTcf5l7W_GTg

Data breaches impact consumers, credit unions, banks, and retailers. Last December, the retail giant Target suffered a massive data breach that made national headlines. In the breach, as many as 110 million identities were compromised.

Take a look at the impact of just this single incident:

  • $200 million: the cost to credit unions and community banks for reissuing 21.8 million credit and debit cards
  • 1-3 million: the estimated number of cards stolen in the Target breach that were sold on the black market and successfully used to commit fraud
  • $18-35.70: the price per card stolen from Target and resold on the black market in the months after the breach

Shocking as these numbers are, they represent the fallout from just a single data breach. Data breaches are happening with frightening regularity.

Malicious hackers are going to continue to exploit existing weaknesses, and many businesses lack the incentive or ability to adequately protect their customer data against evolving threats. That is why NCL believes that consumers need to be proactive about protecting their own data and calling on policymakers for improvements.

The current landscape of protection for consumer data is woefully inadequate.

NCL’s #DataInsecurity Project is calling for reforms such as:

  • Creating a national data breach notification standard, modeled on strong state protections such as California’s;
  • Requiring businesses that maintain consumers’ personal data to protect that information via specific data security requirements;
  • Giving the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General civil penalty authority to enforce violations of data security requirements;
  • Increasing civil and criminal penalties for malicious hacking;
  • Increasing efforts to enhance cooperation with international partners to bring overseas hackers to justice; and
  • Requiring retailers and banks to implement the highest level of security available to protect consumers’ payment data.

To promote these goals, NCL is taking its #DataInsecurity Project on the road to four states across the country, to meet with policymakers, industry experts, consumer advocates, law enforcement officials, and members of the academic and business community. The tour is designed to raise awareness about the frequency of data breaches and to encourage the adoption of comprehensive reforms so that consumers can be better protected.

As a part of the #DataInsecurity Project, NCL has also unveiled important new research by Javelin Strategy & Research investigating the impact of data breaches on consumer trust, on who consumers feel should be responsible for their data, and on current responses to data breaches. Check out NCL’s survey report.

You can get involved!

Help us send the message that the time for reform is now! Sign our petition to the White House calling on policymakers to step up and protect consumers’ data.

 

In memoriam: The lasting impact of miner advocate Donald L. Rasmussen’s work – National Consumers League

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Donald L. Rasmussen, a physician and dedicated advocate for coal miners’ health reform, died on July 23 due to the complications of a fall in May. His impact on the lives of coal miners was unforgettable and we hope to pay tribute to his life by sharing his accomplishments.

Shortly before Rasmussen was employed at the Miners Memorial Hospital in Beckley, West Virginia in 1962, black lung disease was only known to be detected by x-rays. Rasmussen quickly learned that through exercise, he could determine if his patient was suffering from a respiratory issue. He discovered that even when the disease couldn’t be viewed by x-rays, it could be detected by blood and treadmill endurance tests.

Rasmussen said that once he convinced the hospital to invest in a blood gas analyzer, the first patient he tested showed signs of severe lung disease. He found that in the 50,000 miners he had examined during his career, signs of black lung disease could be found in 40 percent. By bringing attention to this new method of diagnosis, he opened the door to healthcare benefits for a far wider group of miners.

At the time, doctors sided with mining companies and the companies attributed the disease to smoking or the reckless work of their employees. Cecil E. Roberts of the United Mine Workers of America said of Rasmussen: “When other doctors were taking the company line and denying that black lung disease existed, Dr. Rasmussen was testifying before state legislatures and Congress, fighting to win recognition that breathing coal dust was killing miners.” Rasmussen implored the government to recognize the greed and negligence of mining companies and save countless lives.

Rasmussen fought with the help of a team of physicians, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and West Virginia democrat representative Ken Hechler to pass legislation that would ensure the compensation of miners affected and the protection of miners for generations to come. The passage of the laws to reduce the dust miners were legally allowed to be exposed to fueled the fire that led to the ousting of UMWA president W.A. Boyle from office. In 1968, Rasmussen testified before state legislatures and Congress to win recognition of the fact that breathing coal dust was killing workers and also presented his findings to groups of miners in union halls.

November 1968 marked a turning point for his cause when 78 miners were killed in a coal dust and methane explosion. This prompted miners to strike and ultimately led to the passage of the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. Passed to provide compensation to disabled workers and limit the amount of dust allowed in coal mines, this law had a monumental impact on the conditions for workers in the mining industry.

Dr. Rasmussen was recognized for his work in 1968 when he received the American Public Health Association’s presidential award. He did not regard himself as a hero, but rather he said “I never felt like I was leading a charge, I don’t see myself as an advocate. I saw the miners who needed help… I was just a physician performing my duty.” Rasmussen’s fight to improve the safety of workers in the mining industry is inspiring. Today we stand with the UMWA in their continuing struggle to secure safer working conditions, pensions, and healthcare, and Dr. Rasmussen’s legacy will live on through the improved quality of life for all mine workers.

NCL intern Taylor Zeitlin contributed to this article.

Photo credit: By Corn, Jack, 1929-, Photographer (NARA record: 8464440) (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Guest Blog: Fixing the Life Insurance Marketplace – National Consumers League

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b.fetchel.jpgA version of this guest post was originally published in the National Underwriter. The views reflected here are not necessarily those of the NCL.

“The life insurance market is characterized not only by an absence of reliable price information, but also by the presence of deceptive price information…the deceptive sales practices found in the life insurance industry constitute a national scandal.” So testified Professor Joseph Belth, an expert on the life insurance industry, before Congress in 1973. Can this statement, from more than 40 years ago, still be as true today?  And is it possible for such deplorable industry practices to be occurring without being in the spotlight of public attention?

The short answers are yes. To this day the life insurance industry too often relies on inadequate product disclosure, misinformation, and fraudulent practices, thereby costing consumers billions of dollars annually. Industry executives have for years acknowledged that no one would buy many of their companies’ products if they were appropriately informed.

The free market economic system is built upon informed buyers making educated decisions. Yet so many life insurance industry chieftains who regularly sing the praise of our economic system fail to acknowledge that their businesses haven’t satisfied the system’s prerequisites or played by its rules.

Empirical proof of the life insurance market’s dysfunction is readily apparent by examining the very products life insurers and their agents sell. While a select few cash-value life insurance policies can provide excellent competitive value, perhaps 95% of such policies sold provide value no informed consumer would accept. This marketplace’s dearth of information also afflicts tens of millions of policyholders at annual renewal; if properly informed, millions of them currently could readily obtain much better value. Consumers of the industry’s other main products, annuities and long term care insurance, also face enormous disclosure-related problems.

The root of the age-old problem is the inadequate disclosure of information surrounding cash-value policies, such as whole life policies, where the annual cost is not the annual premium. Professor Belth and I have both long recommended disclosure about a policy’s annual costs and rate of return on its cash-values.  

The attached table of an actual insurance policy’s historical performance (see below) shows how this information on a policy’s annual costs and rates of return on its cash-values can be presented on a year-by-year basis and summarized over the duration with average or aggregate measures. Similar cost and rate information can be calculated on any and all prospective new and in-force policies via online consumer-friendly analytical tools. Understanding policies from this framework, and with solid knowledge of the differences between illustrated future values and actual future performance, enables consumers to assess the competitiveness of a policy’s costs and rates. For example, a healthy 40 year-old male can  compare his policy’s costs with benchmarks that are available in the marketplace and its rates of return with suitable alternative investments. 

A cash-value life insurance policy’s unique intrinsic economic advantages arise from its Congressionally-granted tax privileges, not its highly touted permanence; after all, a term policy can be converted or exchanged into a policy providing lifelong, permanent coverage. These tax privileges, which are given directly to policyholders, however, are not a basis for which insurers can charge consumers; no one pays thousands of dollars to set-up an individual retirement account (IRA). Consequently, when selling such cash-value policies as whole life agents routinely make assorted misrepresentations. Agents often misleadingly state: 1) that a whole life policyholder pays for a lifetime of costs upfront, and that doing such and owning his/her coverage is better than endlessly renting it; 2) that buying a whole life policy at a younger age locks in a lower level cost for life; and 3) that the annual costs of a whole life policy can actually decline as the insured ages because these policies can pay dividends. These three common agent statements, and myriad variations of such, are deceptive.

Regulations prohibit such misrepresentations, but they have never been enforced. These and other misrepresentations are all designed to distort a cash value policy’s fundamental difference. For agents, the essential difference between whole life and term insurance is the quantum difference in the sales commissions – up to 5-9 times larger on whole life policies than on term policies. No one familiar with the paramount role that compensation incentives tied to the origination of subprime mortgages and the repackaging of such default-inevitable, toxic securities played in creating the Great Recession can doubt the perniciousness of the life insurance industry’s age-old problematic sales practices.

A successful consumer-agent relationship can only be built on trust, so predicating it upon inadequate disclosure is inherently counter-productive to all. While inadequate disclosure appears to be in the insurers’ and agents’ interest, it actually has made consumers so leery of agents that the age-old distribution process is so terribly inefficient and ineffective. Americans’ under-insurance – having woefully less life insurance than needed or appropriate – reaches new records every year. Some insurers’ policy lapse rates raise fundamental questions regarding the products’ suitability that regulators have never examined. And, the facts that the typical life insurance agent sells less than one policy per week and that four out of five new sales recruits fail out of the business within a few years are further proof of this industry’s failed business approaches.

Given the nature of the problem, improved disclosure and publicity of such have always been known to be two indispensable parts of the inevitable solution. Contrary to general opinion, however, there is no need to wait to for this industry’s state regulators to act and mandate disclosure. The necessary disclosures, after all, are not proprietary or esoteric. As is shown in the table, life insurance policies, like an automobiles’ horsepower or MPG, can be disclosed, not only by the manufacturer, but by anyone with the necessary expertise and this information is now available online.

Without publicity though, this public good of disclosure remains undiscovered. Reform of the life insurance industry has always merely been a battle of wills. Reformers have had to confront industry, an uninterested or uninformed media, regulators not understanding their jobs or unwilling or unable to do them, and/or reformers’ own doubts about ever succeeding. Financial markets can be fixed when appropriate policy disclosure for consumers is heralded and becomes pervasive.

When will this information be publicly disseminated, so that everyone knows about it and can use it, thereby initiating the long-overdue repair of the life insurance marketplace? This disclosure-driven transformation will produce the myriad and well-documented benefits of genuine economic competition: consumers will obtain better value; insurers will improve the efficiency of their production processes; and agents will act and be seen as trustworthy professionals. Clearly, the sooner this time comes, the sooner Americans can start saving billions of dollars per year, the better for everyone.

 

Actual Historical Performance of a Whole Life Policy
$250,000 issued 20+ Years ago (in 1989) to a 45 Year Old Male, Best Health
*Annual Premium $5815 Paid All Years
** Notes below provide additional information

Age During Year

Insurance Death Benefit

Cash-Value

Total Annual Costs

Annual Dividend Rate

45

            251,425

  408

            5,444

10.00%

46

            253,954

 5,134

            1,556

10.00%

47

            256,890

10,188

            1,624

9.25%

48

            260,927

 15,823

            1,520

9.25%

49

            265,684

21,955

            1,403

8.50%

50

            271,380

28,709

            1,310

8.50%

51

            278,019

36,119

            1,235

8.50%

52

            285,871

44,344

            1,064

8.50%

53

            295,056

53,487

            998

8.80%

54

            305,332

63,521

            919

8.80%

55

            316,703

74,519

            844

8.80%

56

            328,867

86,417

            907

8.80%

57

            341,858

99,309

            787

8.60%

58

            354,658

112,782

            889

8.20%

59

            366,807

126,628

            1,022

7.70%

60

            378,831

141,112

            1,176

7.50%

61

            391,554

156,699

            1,160

7.50%

62

            404,738

173,322

            1,284

7.50%

63

            418,387

191,040

            1,425

7.50%

64

            429,215

207,946

            1,601

6.50%

 

 

 

Avg. Rate:

8.43%

 

**Insurance Death Benefit shows the amount the policyholder’s beneficiary would receive after his death
Cash-Value is the cash amount the insurer gives to the policyholder if he cancels his contract
Total Annual Costs show the amount expensed from policy premiums (and policy cash values if and when necessary) to pay for sales, claim, administrative, capital charges and any other miscellaneous costs, such as premium taxes.
Annual Dividend Rate is the rate earned by policyholder, net of investment management costs, on policy cash values, that is, values after costs.        

For More Information see this Table 2 of Policy Disclosure article.

Statement on NCL v Flowers Bakeries, LLC – National Consumers League

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Contact: Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League, sallyg@nclnet.org, (202) 631-2301

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (“NCL”) and Flowers Bakeries, LLC (“FB”) are pleased to announce that they have resolved consumer-related litigation pending in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, NCL v. Flowers Bakeries, LLC, Case No. 2013 CA 006550 B. NCL and FB recognize the importance of a focus on nutritional content in bread product offerings and ensuring that customers have healthful options. FB has agreed to provide additional disclosures on the back of its packaging and on the Nature’s Own website.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Cutting Costs for Contraceptives: Saving Money and Staying Healthy under the ACA – National Consumers League

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pills2.jpg

A recent study shows that since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate for insurance plans to cover contraceptives, we’ve seen a large reduction in out-of-pocket spending. In 2013, women saved $1.4 billion! This is important for all American women because too many skip preventive care and other health services due to cost. It appears that free contraception is having a large effect on the rate of pregnancies and abortions in the U.S. But some women are still paying out-of-pocket.

The ACA has strengthened women’s access to many different types of preventive care—including mammograms and all prescribed FDA-approved contraceptive services and supplies—without cost-sharing. However, as a Kaiser Family Foundation study found, not all plans are covering the cost of contraceptive services for consumers, despite the federal mandate to do so. The president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Dr. Mark S. DeFrancesco, stated, “Too often, medical management is used by some insurers as a barrier to access for patients.” The Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance for health insurers to clarify the ACA provision on contraceptive coverage without cost-sharing. With these clarifications, we can hope for full coverage of contraceptives without co-pays. 

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has introduced the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act to make birth control pills and other contraceptives available over-the-counter for people aged 18 and older. While the bill would make contraceptives easier to obtain, it may not keep these services free of cost-sharing. Insurance companies only cover contraceptive services that come with a doctor’s prescription. Dr. Mark S. DeFrancesco said, “Instead of improving access, this bill would actually make more women have to pay for their birth control, and for some women, the cost would be prohibitive…we cannot support a plan that creates one route to access at the expense of another, more helpful route.” The Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act also repeals parts of the ACA. Studies continually demonstrate improved health among the U.S. population due to the ACA. The Act is doing its job.

The age restriction that Senator Ayotte’s bill puts on over-the-counter birth control would also limit the population that benefits from access to contraceptive services. Medical experts should make these decisions about contraceptives, not politicians! While getting a prescription is a burden for many, the cost that comes with over-the-counter medication creates barriers for people who can’t afford it. Advocates say birth control and other contraceptives must be made both accessible and affordable to all those who are looking to access these services. The benefits of making contraceptives easy to access and inexpensive are clear and even favorable to conservative politicians: fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions, and more women having the ability to make decisions about their health.  

A Big Win For California Patients And Consumers – “Refill Reminders” A “Go” – National Consumers League

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sg.jpgCalifornia’s Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII) just delivered a big victory for patients and consumers by expressly recognizing that sponsored medication adherence programs for a currently prescribed drug (commonly called “refill reminders”) do not require patient authorization in California. In publishing its long-awaited State Health Information Policy Manual, CalOHII takes a step to harmonize the state’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) with the federal medical privacy laws and regulations (a.k.a., the HIPAA Privacy Rule).

For years now, due in part to privacy concerns, confusion has persisted within the healthcare community about the types of refill reminder programs that can legally run in California. In fact, California is the only state in the U.S. where pharmacies do not, to any meaningful degree, operate sponsored refill reminder programs. California consumers deserve the benefit of refill reminders that provide helpful information to patients about their prescription drugs. Patient access to this information is now guaranteed.

CalOHII’s publication of its Manual makes clear that California adopts the same approach that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took in its 2013 final rulemaking and “Refill Reminder Guidance.” Under that HHS Guidance, pharmacies are able to provide their patients with sponsored refill reminders. NCL applauds CalOHII for clarifying that the CMIA should be interpreted consistently with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. With that clarification, NCL is hopeful that California pharmacies and their sponsors will jumpstart sponsored refill reminder programs. 

NCL is a longstanding supporter of refill reminder programs. NCL leads  “Script Your Future,” a public education campaign designed to raise awareness of the importance of taking medication as prescribed. Poor medication adherence is a major, and significantly under-appreciated, health problem. Studies establish that nearly three-out-of-four Americans do not take their medications as directed, which costs the healthcare system nearly $300 billion per year and results in almost 125,000 unnecessary deaths per year. To help combat this problem, most pharmacies, health plans, and doctors provide a broad range of patient-directed communications regarding prescription drug therapies, including communications that encourage patients to stay on prescribed therapy. The sponsored refill reminder programs endorsed by CalOHII in its Manual are a key part of these efforts in California.  

 As a founding member of the Best Privacy Practices Coalition, NCL is also a strong believer in the protection of medical privacy. However, medical privacy does not exist in a vacuum. NCL is pleased that CalOHII has arrived at a great middle ground that balances the need for information with privacy concerns of patients. This balance is a win for Californians.

The Greatest American Heroine You’ve Never Heard of: Why Florence Kelley Should Be the Woman on the Next $10 Bill – National Consumers League

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This post appeared on the Huffington Post on July 6, 2015

The Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Jack Lew, recently announced that the newly re-designed $10 bill, slated for 2020, would feature the face of a woman to honor the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. The announcement set the Internet ablaze with suggestions for which historical U.S. woman would adorn the new bill.

It’s about time! While this will not be the first time a woman has graced U.S. currency – Martha Washington was featured on the dollar bill in the 19th Century and Pocahontas was in a group photo that appeared on the $20 bill from 1865 to 1869 – it’s been way too long since we had an American heroine appear on paper money. Queen Elizabeth’s likeness is on bills in 15 Commonwealth countries. Frida Kahlo is featured on Mexico’s 500-peso note. Eva Peron has been celebrated on Argentina’s 100-peso note since 2012. Opera star Dame Nellie Melba appears on the Australian 100-dollar note.

Lew has said that he will be choosing a woman who “has played a major role in our history who represents the theme of democracy.” One of the National Consumers League’s founders, Florence Kelley, was a champion for equal rights and consumer protections who fought her whole life for democracy and would be an ideal candidate – a true unsung female American hero.

Though her actions are not as popularized as other women in U.S. history, she has indeed played a major role in the creation of modern America and worked tirelessly to raise awareness and influence public policy to fight the oppressive working conditions for women, children, and all workers. She may not be as well recognized in popular culture, but we all take for granted the 8-hour workday that she helped to establish and the other groundbreaking reforms in labor and consumer products for which she was responsible. Her work left a very visible mark on our nation’s history, and we now have a chance for her legacy in social justice to be acknowledged.

Here are the top ten reasons we should put #KelleyOn10.

1. Influence. Justice Felix Frankfurter said about Florence Kelley: she “had probably the largest single share in shaping the social history of the United States during the first 30 years of the 20th Century.”
2. Workers rights. The daughter of William D. Kelley, a co-founder of the Republican Party in 1859 and a U.S. Congressman from Philadelphia, 1860-1890, she was a charismatic speaker who convinced her contemporaries that women and children needed labor protections at a time when unions would not represent their interests.
3. Pioneer. After graduating from Cornell University in 1882, and obtaining a law degree from Northwestern University in 1893, she co-founded in 1898 a leading progressive era organization – the National Consumers League (NCL)– and headed the NCL until her death in 1932.
4. Progressive leadership. She fostered the creation of 64 local consumers’ leagues throughout the United States, and traveled extensively to orchestrate connections between local leagues and the national league, promoting a social justice agenda that was widely adopted by the women’s suffrage movement and other progressive movements nationwide. She inspired and mentored future Labor Secretary, Frances Perkins; Eleanor Roosevelt followed in Kelley’s footsteps.
5. Ending child labor. She was the leading champion of eradicating child labor in the United States from 1898-1932.
6. 40-hour work week. She promoted the enactment of state wage and hours laws for women, which created the foundation for the 40-hour week and minimum wage law incorporated within the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938.
7. Universal health care. She led the campaign for enactment of the first federal health care bill, the Welfare and Hygiene of Maternity and Infancy Act, more commonly known as the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921
8. NAACP leadership. In 1909 she was one of the original organizers, with W.E.B. DuBois and others, of the NAACP and served on the association’s board for 20 years. Kelley fully supported racial equality, writing in a 1926 letter, “I think there should be a written pledge from every hotel that there will be no race discrimination. Certainly I should not dream of staying in any hotel which refused to my fellow members either bed or board.”
9. Women’s suffrage. She was a prominent leader in the battle for women’s suffrage, served a Vice President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1902, and in 1920 co-founded the League of Women Voters.
10. Consumer safety. She advocated for the Pure Food and Drugs Act and Meat Inspection Act of 1906, pioneering consumer protection laws that laid the groundwork for the creation of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service.

NCL applauds DOJ investigation into airline collusion – National Consumers League

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July 2, 2015

Contact: Cindy Hoang, National Consumers League, cindyh@nclnet.org or (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy group, applauds the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its announcement of an investigation into major U.S. airlines to determine whether they are colluding to keep airfares high. NCL is urging the DOJ to also examine the role that rising cancellation/change fees have played in the growing cost of air travel for consumers. In a 2013 report, NCL examined these fees and found that they are a growing source of concern for consumers and may contribute to the deceptive marketing of travel insurance policies.

The following statement is attributable to NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

As the airline industry reports record profits, consumers are faced with higher ticket prices, limited routes, and consistently terrible customer service. We support efforts by the DOJ and leaders in Congress like Sen. Richard Blumenthal to get to the bottom of this issue and determine whether airlines are participating in anticompetitive, anti-consumer conduct. 

With the increasing consolidation in the airline industry, it is now more critical than ever that regulators be on the lookout for anti-competitive conduct that harms the flying public.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Promoting health or products? A look into the Facts Up Front program

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factsupfront.pngDue to the work of the Facts Up Front campaign, today’s food products are marked with labels that advertise their nutrition facts. You have most likely seen them as the small snapshot of information on the front corners of products like cereal and bread. While this is a promising health campaign, consumers should be wary because these labels can often be misleading.

Facts Up Front was primarily developed by leaders in the food industry to help grocery shoppers like you and me easily identify nutritious food, when we may not have the time to read an entire Nutrition Facts panel.

Consumers seeking nutritional information should take a closer look at nutrition labels, as sometimes the food industry has been remiss in keeping honesty at the forefront of their labeling and marketing of products. Several years ago, one labeling campaign called “Smart Choices,” promoted sugar-laden, highly processed products as healthy options. Programs like Smart Choices, which had lenient criteria for what was considered “healthy,” lacked credibility and soon disappeared. Walter C. Willett, chairman of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health, said that the less healthy products that were given the Smart Choices’ seal of approval were in fact, “horrible choices.” As consumer advocates, we would like to see the food industry put the health of consumers at the heart of their new and improved labeling system.

Currently, Facts Up Front labels are only used by food companies that choose to display nutrition facts on the front of their packaging, which also raises some red flags. Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stated that Facts Up Front’s “voluntary nature means you may not see it on junk foods. And even if you did, it wouldn’t successfully highlight the food’s unhealthfulness.” There is no breakdown of the label information until you search online for Facts Up Front or a nutrition information website. The Facts Up Front labels show only the amount of calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar per serving on product packaging. The campaign may only display information about up to two nutrients or vitamins on front-of-packaging labels if the products meet FDA standards of a “good source,” which applies to foods that have 10 to 19 percent of the recommended daily value of a specific nutrient. The fact is, it is difficult for consumers to use these labels intuitively to make a “healthy decision,” which is what the campaign aims to accomplish.

The quick, simple informational element of this campaign requires more intensive public nutrition education, because it is clear that misleading nutrition marketing can, and does, occur. Facts Up Front can use the help of health marketing research, such as the Institute of Medicine’s 2011 study on front-of-package labels, and should continue to work with advocates to ensure labels provide the most honest, easy-to-use, and factual information to consumers. In the meantime, consumers should “trust, but verify” all nutrition labeling on food products.

King v. Burwell ruling will keep consumers insured (and healthy!)

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Health_Care_Law.jpgThe King v. Burwell ruling in favor of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has allowed for approximately eight million consumers to keep their insurance coverage. In the King case, petitioners challenged the clause of the Affordable Care Act that stated subsidies are available to people who use an exchange “established by the State” to purchase insurance. 

Consumers living in the 34 states without state marketplaces are able to benefit from the subsidies because the Internal Revenue Service allowed people to receive assistance if they purchased a plan on the federally-run marketplace. The plaintiffs argued that subsidies by law are only given to people living in states with their own health insurance marketplaces. The ruling allows consumers in states where the marketplace is run by the federal government to keep their subsidy and insurance.

The National Consumers League (NCL) applauds the Supreme Court for upholding the ACA subsidies for consumers using the federal marketplace. The Supreme Court decision helps prevent a rise in premiums for all consumers using the health care exchange. The subsidies are a key provision of the law and they are an important part of keeping consumers insured and healthy. This decision provides hope that the ACA will face fewer political and legal obstacles in the future and can continue to provide health insurance to consumers. Despite the naysayers, the numbers speak volumes. Since the ACA’s enactment, more than 16 million Americans have been able to afford quality health insurance they did not have before.

If you do not already have health insurance, you can enroll in person, over the phone, by mail, online at Healthcare.gov, or on your state exchange’s site during the open enrollment period.