NCL offers support for Star Rating for Biosimilars Act, H.R. 2855

/in , /by

October 13, 2021

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org or (724) 799-5392

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL) is pleased to support the Star Rating for Biosimilars Act, as introduced by Representatives Paul D. Tonko (D-NY) and Bob Gibbs (R-OH). NCL believes that implementing a rating system for biosimilars would incentivize insurers to provide lower cost drug alternatives and alleviate the financial burdens on patients.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) currently has a star ratings system for insurance plans under Medicare Advantage and Part D. The quality measures capture items such as clinical quality, beneficiary satisfaction, patient outcomes, and regulatory compliance. This rating system helps the CMS evaluate which plans to keep and discontinue. To date, we do not have a comparable rating system where biosimilars are concerned. “Biosimilars are on average 30 percent cheaper than their biologic counterparts, yet many existing barriers in our current healthcare plans prevent patients from accessing these cost-saving medicines,” said NCL Director of Health Policy Jeanette Contreras.

The Star Ratings for Biosimilars Act would require the CMS to put in place a five-star performance rating system for biosimilar products under Medicare Advantage Plans. For each plan, the ratings will be based on quality measures meant to evaluate the level of access that each insurance plan provides to biosimilars, such as whether a biosimilar is on the formulary, and the percentage of enrollees prescribed a biosimilar when its biologic counterpart is available. Aside from Advantage Plans, the bill would also require the CMS to incorporate these measures into a similar rating system for plans under the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.

The NCL believes in transparency as a core function of informed decision-making. Knowing whether cost saving biosimilars would be available to enrollees under various Medicare (including the Medicare Advantage plans) and Part D plans would bring in more transparency to help consumers be more informed when selecting a plan. “Allowing consumers to see which plans are offering access to lower cost biosimilars would also incentivize Medicare plans to increase patient access to biosimilars,” said Contreras. We encourage Congress to pass the Star Rating for Biosimilars Act in order to broaden access to and encourage increased provision of cost-saving biosimilars.

###

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.

Watchdog group to present annual awards to incoming CFPB Director Chopra, Michigan Governor and AG, and SEIU Local 2015 President Verrett on Tuesday, 10/12

/in , /by

October 11, 2021

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org or (724) 799-5392

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, will honor Rohit Chopra, incoming Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, on Tuesday, October 12 in Washington, DC.

In addition to the Trumpeter Award, NCL will honor April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union Local 2015 in Los Angeles, with the 2021 Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, named for NCL’s first general secretary and one of the most influential figures in 20th Century American history.

MEDIA ADVISORY

What: National Consumers League’s 2021 Trumpeter Awards
When: Tuesday, October 12, 2021 | 7 pm Dinner and Presentation of Awards
Where: The Mayflower Hotel | Grand Ballroom | 1127 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, has been honoring visionaries in consumer and worker protection with its annual Trumpeter Award since 1973. Past honorees include: Senator Ted Kennedy, the award’s inaugural recipient, as well as Labor Secretaries Hilda Solis, Robert Reich, and Alexis Herman, Senators Carl Levin and Paul Wellstone, Delores Huerta of the United Farm Workers, U.S. Representative John Lewis, and other honored consumer and labor leaders.

Last year’s Trumpeter recipients were Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and journalist Vicky Nguyen. Attorney General for the District of Columbia Karl Racine was recipient of the Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award.

This year’s Trumpeter Awards will feature a reception, dinner, and speaking appearances by NCL leadership and the honorees, as well as:

  • Maria Cardona, CNN Commentator & Principal of Dewey Square Group
  • Former FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz
  • Grace Whiting, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving
  • Karl Racine, Attorney General of the District of Columbia
  • NCL Board Chair Dominique Warren, Deputy Director of Government Relations at Service Employees International Union

To learn more, visit nclnet.org/trumpeter_awards.

Due to COVID restrictions, attendance at this event is limited. Members of the media may inquire about attendance options by contacting Carol McKay, (724) 799-5392.

###

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.

Script Your Future launches tenth annual student competition for innovations in medication adherence

/in , /by

February 1, 2021

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—Today marks the launch of the tenth annual Script Your Future Medication Adherence Team Challenge, a two-month-long intercollegiate competition among health profession student teams and faculty for creating solutions to raise awareness about medication adherence as a critical public health issue. The Challenge, hosted by the National Consumers League (NCL), is returning to university campuses across the country after nine years of successful student competition and innovation.

The Challenge is an integral part of Script Your Future, a campaign launched by NCL and its partners in 2011 to combat the problem of poor medication adherence in the United States, where nearly three out of four patients do not take their medication as directed.

“Today’s medications are better than ever at treating and curing people, but these treatments can only work if patients know the importance of taking their prescriptions as directed. It takes all members of the health team to make that happen,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “For 10 years, our Script Your Future Medication Adherence Team Challenge has galvanized student health professionals to explore creative, interprofessional approaches, in encouraging medication adherence. To usher Script Your Future into the next era of improving adherence, we have implemented two new components to the Team Challenge: technology innovation and vaccine adherence. We have been blown away by the ingenuity of our student teams, and we look forward to how they will contribute to their communities in this year’s Team Challenge.”

As the nation continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, Script Your Future teams are encouraged to build their campaigns centering around vaccine confidence to help address hesitancy and mitigate further spread of the coronavirus. Teams are encouraged to tailor their outreach towards chronic health issues including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory illnesses. Challenge administrators also welcome the inclusion of other disease groups that would benefit from medication adherence-related interventions.

The Challenge is sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation, and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).

Through April 2, inter-professional teams—including student pharmacists, nurses, doctors, and others—will implement creative outreach approaches in their communities to raise awareness and improve understanding about medication adherence. At the end of the Challenge, teams submit entries for review by national partner organizations, and winners are recognized for their efforts to improve medication adherence.

Last year, Team Challenge student health professionals were met with unique circumstances, hurdles, and obstacles as they navigated the historic COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in school closures, event cancelations, and a host of other challenges. To adhere to social distancing guidelines, dedicated teams pivoted their campaigns and made an impact in other ways. Ultimately, however, more than 80 teams submitted applications; the competition saw engagement from nearly 2,900 future healthcare professionals and volunteers, who hosted more than 250 events in 14 states. Collectively, the teams directly counseled close to 12,000 patients and introduced Script Your Future messaging to more than 430,000 consumers, nationwide.

Since the Team Challenge began in 2011, more than 21,000 future healthcare professionals have directly counseled nearly 87,000 patients and nearly 26 million consumers.

Last year’s national award winner was University of the Sciences: Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Other schools winning category-specific honors included: Howard University College of Pharmacy; St. Louis College of Pharmacy; Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy (LECOM); University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy; and Western University College of Pharmacy. Additional participating schools received finalist and runner-up status across a variety of award categories.

To learn about previous winners, visit Script Your Future’s online home.

For more information on the Challenge, visit the Challenge Community website.

Tweet along with us during the Challenge using #SYFchallenge, and follow the campaign @IWillTakeMyMeds.

###

About 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.

About Script Your Future

Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League (NCL), a private, non-profit membership organization founded in 1899. NCL’s mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information about the Script Your Future campaign, visit ScriptYourFuture.org. For more information on NCL, please visit nclnet.org.

Delta and American ending change fees another victory for consumers

/in , , , , /by

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL) today applauded Delta Airlines and American Airlines for their decisions to end ticket changes fees. The decision, prompted by United Airlines’ decision on Sunday to end change fees, comes after nearly a decade of advocacy by NCL and other consumer organizations to put an end to such outrageous fees.

While the end of change fees at the Big Three airlines is a victory for consumers, the airlines continue to collect billions of dollars in add-on fees for services such as baggage, seat reservations, and early boarding. In addition, low-cost carriers like Spirit and Frontier and smaller airlines like JetBlue, Hawaiian, and Alaska continue to charge exorbitant change fees.

The following statement is attributable to National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

Following United’s lead, Delta and American have taken the right step for their customers by ending change fees. Consumers often need to change a ticket reservation due to circumstances beyond their control. We don’t think they should be penalized to the tune of hundreds of dollars when life’s uncertainties interfere with travel plans.

While Delta has committed to ending change fees permanently and American has agreed to also end change fees on some international flights, more needs to be done to ensure that change fees are consigned to the dustbin of aviation industry history. The commitment to not charge change fees should be included in all three airlines’ contracts of carriage, the legally binding document that underpins each ticket. Without this action, we fear that the airlines will simply slide back into their old ways when the economy rebounds from the COVID-19 crisis or when a new CEO takes over.

Congress should also continue to push for legislation like the FAIR Fees Act, which will promote transparency and fairness in the air travel marketplace for all consumers, not just customers of the biggest airlines. NCL will continue to advocate for such common-sense consumer protection legislation.

###

About the National Consumers League (NCL)

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.

NCL commends two GOP senators who will oppose Beck nomination to lead consumer safety agency

/in /by

June 22, 2020

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers (NCL) League greatly appreciates the principled stance of two GOP senators who have stated publicly that they cannot support Dr. Nancy Beck for the Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). One of those senators, Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), holds a critical seat on the committee of jurisdiction over the CPSC. That committee will vote either to send her nomination to the full Senate or not.

“Dr. Nancy Beck’s record as it relates to PFAS chemicals, as well as her responses to my questions and the questions of other senators at yesterday’s Commerce Committee hearing have led me to conclude that she is not the right person to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which heard from Dr. Beck at her nomination hearing this week.

“I do not believe that Dr. Nancy Beck’s views on chemical safety, including on PFAS substances and asbestos, align with the Consumer Products Safety Commission’s mission,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said in a statement.

Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats. If two more Republicans announce their opposition, the party would lack a majority to confirm Beck, assuming all Democrats and independents who caucus as Democrats oppose her.

PFAS Concerns

Concerns about Beck’s responses on PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) and asbestos were evident during Tuesday’s Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee nomination hearing. Beck promised senators to champion policies “supported by objective and transparent science.”

Beck’s previous position as a political appointee in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and her work for the American Chemistry Council raised concerns.

The Commerce panel won’t schedule a vote on Beck’s nomination for at least two weeks to allow for members to ask additional questions for the record, a Republican committee aide said.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, also will vote against Beck’s nomination; Cantwell asked Beck a number of probing questions, as did Senators Tom Udall (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

Democrats, environmental, and consumer groups have criticized Beck’s nomination to lead the commission, citing her consistent actions to slow or block banning dangerous chemicals and advancing the interests of the chemical industry.

The following letters were sent to the Senate Commerce Committee’s Chairman Roger Wicker and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, opposing the nomination of Nancy Beck to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

###

About the National Consumers League (NCL)

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.

Consumer groups: Proposed DOT rules will undermine agency’s ability to protect passengers

/in /by

May 28, 2020

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—Consumer groups today called the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposal to modify how it protects passengers from unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the air travel marketplace “fatally flawed” and urged the agency to abandon its rulemaking. In comments filed with the agency, the National Consumers League and Consumer Action questioned why the Department would begin such a far-reaching rulemaking, which it apparently did at the request of the nation’s largest airline lobbying group.

“The proposed rules, formulated at the behest of the airline lobby, would not benefit consumers,” said John Breyault, NCL vice president of public policy, telecommunications, and fraud. “If adopted, they would give airlines even greater incentives to engage in the kinds of anti-passenger practices—like leaving passengers stuck on the tarmac for hours on end—that Congress intended the DOT to prevent.”

The DOT’s proposed rules (“Defining Unfair or Deceptive Practices,” Docket No. DOT-OST-2019-0182), would also require the agency to overcome burdensome hurdles before any new enforcement actions or consumer protection rulemakings are initiated.

DOT’s enforcement activity is at the lowest level in a decade. Last year, the DOT initiated the fewest number of enforcement actions (9) and the second-lowest amount of civil penalties ($2.2 million) since 2010. Compare this to the $1.4 billion in baggage fees that the eleven biggest U.S. airlines collected in the fourth quarter of 2019 alone. The groups’ comments questioned how such metrics could square with the airline industry’s portrayal of the DOT as a consumer protection agency run amok.

“We understand that the airlines are facing severe economic headwinds due to COVID-19,” said Linda Sherry, Consumer Action’s director of national priorities. “That should be no excuse for the DOT to cave to industry pressure and abandon its critical consumer protection role in the air travel marketplace.”

The organizations’ full comments are available here.

###

About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneering 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.

NCL expresses concern about Trump Administration’s NBPP rule for 2021

/in , , , /by

May 26, 2020

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, expresses concern about the Trump Administration’s Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters Rule for 2021.

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

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a toll across the country, consumers should not be subjected to additional obstacles when trying to access the care they need. We are therefore deeply troubled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decision to permit health plans to use accumulator adjustment programs in its Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters Rule for 2021.

This is a step in the wrong direction at a time when consumers are struggling to make ends meet. Under these programs, health insurers are not required to count manufacturer cost-sharing assistance toward patients’ annual deductibles, even when no medically appropriate generic equivalent is available. Many patients typically rely on very specific treatments that have no generic or other alternative, resulting in already high out-of-pocket spending. Removing this cost-sharing assistance will force those patients to pay thousands of dollars more in unexpected costs at the pharmacy. These new costs could push some to forego those medications, leading to worsened health outcomes. This could compromise medication adherence and will lead to increased health care costs over time.

Given the significant financial pressure this will place on patients and the negative impact it could have for our health care system as a whole, we ask that HHS reconsider the reversal of its original protections against these programs. Any subsequent course of action should seek to take the burden off of consumers. Employers and insurers must recognize that this is not the time to create barriers to care and refrain from implementing accumulator adjustment programs in 2021.”

###

About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneering 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.

NCL: Annual in-office eye exams help diagnose potential problems

/in , , /by

May 4, 2020

Contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC–The National Consumers League (NCL) has long recommended an annual, in-person eye exam as part of consumers’ annual health and wellness routines. An eye examination with an eye doctor ensures not only correct eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions, but also the opportunity for important preventive care as the eyes are a window into our overall health. An eye doctor, whether a primary eye care doctor of optometry or an ophthalmologist, can diagnose potentially hundreds of conditions during an exam, including diabetes, cancer, and macular degeneration. Through an eye exam, these doctors can catch an illness or disease early and treat it right away, making this care a critical part of our preventive care toolbox.

But now with COVID-19 keeping many of us at home, companies claiming to offer at-home vision tests are ramping up their marketing, despite the fact that there is no U.S. Food and Drug Administration- (FDA) approved at-home device that people can use to self-conduct a vision assessment, let alone a full eye examination. These devices have not been proven to even provide an accurate vision prescription. Consumers need to be wary of products that mistakenly claim that their at-home devices can provide an eye exam or a vision prescription and should instead consult their eye doctors who are available to help provide safe solutions.

NCL applauds state attorneys general for taking action and the media for publishing articles about the dubious effectiveness and potential dangers that at-home vision tests or devices present. It’s been important to tell consumers to be aware of false marketing promises.

As states begin to reopen health care access, eye doctors across the country are beginning to safely provide routine eye health examinations once again. Patients looking to schedule their annual eye examinations or update their prescriptions should contact their eye doctors, who are employing protocols to protect everyone’s health during this public health emergency.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing out the best in many companies across our country, there are those few who are taking this opportunity to mislead and misinform the public. NCL wants to remind consumers to be aware and understand that there’s no substitute for an annual, in-person comprehensive eye exam or for the doctor-patient relationship that’s at the heart of healthy outcomes, especially when it concerns our precious eye health and vision. When it comes to your eyes, you don’t fool around!

###

About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneering 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.

2020 Champion LifeSmarts student teams announced by National Consumers League

/in , /by

April 28, 2020

Student competitors best in states in national consumer literacy education / scholarship program

Contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL) has announced the 2020 Champion student teams that took first place in their states’ LifeSmarts 2019-2020 competitions and have earned a place at the next National LifeSmarts Championship. LifeSmarts, a consumer education competition that challenges teens in grades 9-12 about personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities, is a 26-year-old program sponsored by NCL.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 National LifeSmarts Championship was cancelled, but NCL is celebrating the teams of students who came in first in their states and would have competed for the 2020 national title. Due to the students’ success this year, all state champion and special Wild Card teams have qualified to compete at the 2021 National LifeSmarts Championship, which will be held in Cincinnati April 17-20, 2021.

“We are so proud of these students from across the country, who beat out thousands of other teens in order to take their state titles,” said LifeSmarts Program Director Lisa Hertzberg. “We look forward to coming together next spring to finish out the competition and determine the 2020 National Champion team.”

LifeSmarts is an education and scholarship program run by the Washington, DC-based National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization. It competitively tests high school students’ consumer and personal finance knowledge. LifeSmarts is available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and in partnership programs with student leadership programs FBLA, 4-H, and FCCLA.

Long-time Indiana-based coach Diane Slaven, an instructor from Franklin County High School, was named the 2020 LifeSmarts Coach of the Year. In the words of the students who nominated Slaven:

Coach Diane Slaven and team in 2019“Mrs. Slaven sees LifeSmarts as an organization that teaches students things that they will need in their lives, that they aren’t necessarily exposed to in school. That is the reason why she is so invested and has given back to LifeSmarts as a coach for so many years. Mrs. Slaven is dedicated to the success of each student, not only in LifeSmarts but in our lives as well. Mrs. Slaven has led many teams to National Competitions throughout the years and has not failed to highly motivate and prepare each team. I think this says a lot about how caring and dedicated she is. She juggles the duties of LifeSmarts along with being department head of the business department. This year Mrs. Slaven is retiring, and is so deserving of this great honor due to everything she has given to us, and LifeSmarts throughout the years.”

In the 26 years that LifeSmarts has been educating high school and middle school teens on consumer issues, it has grown dramatically, with more than 3 million consumer questions answered at LifeSmarts.org in the online competition during the 2019-2020 program year.

“NCL’s LifeSmarts program is allowing us to rear a generation of consumer-savvy teenagers who often outsmart their parents on issues related to avoiding fraud, credit and debt, and complicated healthcare decisions,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

To learn more about the program, contact NCL’s Lisa Hertzberg at lisah@nclnet.org.

###

About LifeSmarts and the National Consumers League

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run the programs on a volunteer basis. For more information, visit: www.lifesmarts.org, email lifesmarts@nclnet.org or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at (202) 835-3323.

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.

National Consumers League statement on lack of airline passenger protections in COVID-19 relief bill

/in , , , /by

March 26, 2020

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC–The National Consumers League, America’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today called the Senate’s failure to include consumer protections for airline passengers in the COVID-19 relief bill a missed opportunity to protect the flying public. The bill, which passed the Senate on a 96-0 vote and appears headed toward passage in the House of Representatives, does not contain the passenger protections, supported by consumer groups, that were in Speaker Pelosi’s proposed bill.

The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League:

“Airlines are canceling flights by the hundreds, leaving consumers who have spent hundreds or thousands of dollars on planned vacations and other travel high and dry. We are seeing disturbing reports that those customers, whose flights were canceled through no fault of their own, are being given the run-around by the airlines when they try to get a refund. A one-year flight voucher is of no use to consumers who don’t know when the current COVID-19 outbreak will subside.

In spite of this, the Senate approved a COVID-19 relief that did not require even the most basic of passenger protections of the airlines. While we applaud Congress for putting checks into the hands of the most vulnerable consumers and protecting the livelihood of millions of airline workers, it should have done more to protect the passengers who are the lifeblood of the industry. It is likely that this will not be the last time that the airlines come to Congress asking for a taxpayer bailout due to the COVID-19 outbreak. NCL will continue to press our elected representatives to ensure that consumers’ needs are not left unaddressed in the next relief bill.”

###

About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneering 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.