Kentucky Nursing Homes Need More Accountability Not Less

Senate Bill 9, which was just introduced in Kentucky, is an alarming effort by the nursing home industry to avoid responsibility and reduce their accountability when caring for our loved ones.

Contrary to the industry proposal, our seniors deserve an unbiased venue in which to make their cases without paying higher costs or increasing the size of our government. 

Please join in this fight to protect those we love living in these facilities. If you live in KY, please call your State Senator today at 1-800-372-7181 and urge them to vote no on SB 9. 

To learn more about SB 9 and its harmful effects, watch the video below and click here. 

BREAKING NEWS: Senate Passes the SMART Act

The Senate has just passed the SMART Act, which passed earlier this week in the House.  More information to come when it is signed into law.

Please see our statement from the House passage here.

AAJ Response on House Passage of the SMART Act

The House of Representatives has passed the Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers (SMART) Act, which was co-sponsored by Reps Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Ron Kind (D-WI).

AAJ President Mary Alice McLarty had this to say:

“This bipartisan legislation is a practical solution that will streamline the Medicare Secondary Payer system to ensure that seniors and persons with disabilities get timely assistance and taxpayers are repaid millions of dollars every year.”

PayPal Users Beware!

Starting November 1st, PayPal will be the latest company to include a clause in its user agreement that would eliminate the right to seek justice in a court room. This clause would force consumers into arbitration.

Barney Frank Explains the Importance of the Civil Justice System on MSNBC

Fine-Print Can Limit Your Rights After Harm or Injury

The Washington Post had a column today from Keiser Health News warning consumers against signing away their rights due to clauses found in the fine-print of nursing home contracts.

Homeowners Still Without Relief from Chinese Drywall

It took more than three years, but a Chinese company’s efforts to evade responsibility for selling defective drywall in the U.S. may slowly be hitting a brick wall. Taishan Gypsum sold more than 10 million pounds of dangerous drywall, linked to metal corrosion, sulfuric gases, headaches, asthma, and other health problems here in the U.S. But for homeowners like Bill Morgan and his family, who paid the price for a foreign company’s dangerous product, the battle has been too long.

Third Circuit Deals Blow to Consumers Forced into Arbitration

The Third Circuit issued an opinion in Homa v. American Express this week that wiped out consumers’ hope for meaningful access to justice when faced with a forced arbitration clause.  The court found that when a forced arbitration clause with a class action ban is included in the fine print of a contract, individual arbitration is the consumer’s only remedy – even if a consumer can prove that the cost of arbitration is so high that it is not a viable option.

NYT: ALEC is a fraud on taxpayers

Today the New York Times calls out the shadowy corporate front group known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on its tax-exempt status as a nonpartisan charity despite ALEC’s clear pro-corporate, anti-consumer mission.

Why Replacing the ACA with Med-Mal is an Unconstitutional Assault on Patients’ Rights

Before the ink was even dry on the Supreme Court ruling in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) case, numerous Members of Congress argued repeatedly and publicly to repeal and replace the ACA with a federal medical malpractice proposal that relies on the Commerce Clause for constitutional authority. This legislation would decimate the legal rights of patients injured by negligence, nursing home abuse, or defective drugs and devices and eliminate any incentive improve patient safety.