My Bills Say I'm Outstanding

What to Know: To prepare for an upcoming trip, Pam LeBlanc went to a drive-thru clinic for a COVID test just to be safe. The test came back negative and her trip went well but, after her return, she received a bill from the clinic for $6400 and a letter from her insurance company saying the clinic was out-of-network.

The TPPF Take: As America continues to recover from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, it is important to think of solutions that can help keep money in patient’s pocketbooks.

“Policymakers can dramatically lower health care costs and stimulate the economy, at no cost to the taxpayer, by pursuing systemwide health care price transparency,” said TPPF’s David Balat. “Under the status quo, health care consumers do not know what they’ll pay until after treatment occurs. As a result, providers can charge far more than if patients had pricing information to inform their treatment decisions before receiving care.”

The Reward for Work Well Done

What to Know: The predominately Black and Hispanic students of Success Academy charter school network in New York City are passing tests in English and mathematics at a higher rate than any school district in the entire state.

The TPPF Take: Teachers unions have been successful in their fight to stop students and resources from moving to charter schools.

“Charter school growth declined rapidly across the nation from 14% in 2014 to 5% in 2017,” said TPPF’s Emily Sass. “Why are public charter schools growing at a slower rate if they have served their communities so well? A likely possibility is the great difficulty charter school organizers must endure to be granted a charter in the first place.”

Money for Nothing

What to Know: Thirty-four million Americans—over a tenth of the nation’s population—have some college credits but dropped out before graduating.  They are nearly twice as likely as college graduates to be unemployed and four times more likely to default on student loans.

The TPPF Take: “Student lending in the United States is in need of significant reform,” said TPPF’s Andrew Gillen, Ph.D. “The best student loan system would rely on private income-contingent lending, forbid loan guarantees as well as bailouts of lenders or borrowers, ensure competition among lenders, and impose caps on annual and aggregate borrowing.”