Page 208 – Taxpayers Protection Alliance

TPA Announces Ad Campaign Thanking Lawmakers for Rejecting Rate-Setting

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:January 17, 2020
Post category:Healthcare Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) announced the start of a radio and TV advertising campaign in Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, and New York thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and like-minded lawmakers for standing up for patients and opposing the federal government dictating healthcare prices across the country. At the end of 2019, Majority Leader McConnell and legislative allies halted attempts by members of Congress such as Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) to have the government impose rate-setting in cases of surprise medical billing. Surprise bills occur when patients receive unwanted and unexpected healthcare bills in the mail days or even weeks after a hospital room visit. TPA appreciates the work of leading lawmakers in preventing further government control over the deeply-dysfunctional healthcare sector.

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Postal Business Plan: The Good, Lame, and Up in Flames

Post author:Ross Marchand
Post published:January 16, 2020
Post category:Postal Reform

Well, it was certainly a late delivery, but the five-year United States Postal Service (USPS) business plan is finally here. Weighing in at 43 pages, it’s less ambitious than the ten-year plan that Postmaster General Megan Brennan promised to release to the American people...last summer. But reform suggestions are welcome, as the USPS hemorrhages red ink and teeters on the brink of insolvency and a potential, costly taxpayer bailout. In its business plan, the USPS discusses promising technological investments that could lead to greater digital engagement with consumers and improve workplace efficiency. The agency, however, fails to provide a satisfactory narrative about its dysfunctional pricing process. But the real dumpster (or mail truck) fire is the USPS’ refusal to think outside the box in order to achieve real cost-savings. Without further ado, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) presents “the Good, Lame, and Up in Flames.”

Watchdog Urges Greater Progress on Trade Negotiations

Post author:Tim Andrews
Post published:January 15, 2020
Post category:Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), a nonpartisan advocacy organization representing taxpayers and consumers across the country, applauded President Trump for signing a limited “Phase One” trade deal with China after months of deliberations between the two powers. The agreement halves the existing 15 percent tariff rate on $110 billion worth of Chinese goods to 7.5 percent, while shoring up key intellectual property (IP) protections for American companies doing business with China. But the agreement still leaves tariffs intact on more than $250 billion worth of goods imported from the Asian nation, and promises to reduce tariffs in the future have proven elusive.

California is projected to need another 500,000 healthcare workers by 2024, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

California’s surprise billing “fix” compromises care for millions of patients

Post author:Ross Marchand
Post published:January 15, 2020
Post category:Healthcare

In the People’s Republic of California, delivering and receiving healthcare is akin to paying a visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). It didn’t have to be this way; there are more than 50,000 talented doctors statewide eager to give consumers quality healthcare at a competitive prices. But, like most parts of the Golden State’s economy, a blizzard of bureaucracy has buried the sector in an avalanche of regulatory costs.

Trump can save millions of lives by rethinking vaping regs

Post author:Tim Andrews
Post published:January 14, 2020
Post category:Executive Branch

More than 10 million Americans relying on reduced-risk alternatives to deadly tobacco products breathed a sigh of relief when, at 6:30 p.m. on New Years’ Eve, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it would not proceed with a widely anticipated ban on these life-saving products. For the tight community of vaping ex-smokers, the news was not simply a vindication of their decision to improve their health, it was a glimmer of hope that current smokers may have access to these life-saving products. The news was also a welcome sign for a budding industry given that 100,000 jobs depend directly on harm-reduction products such as e-cigarettes and millions of vapers and small shop owners see prohibition as devastating to lives and livelihoods.

Photo By: Ralph Alswang Photographer 202-487-5025 PLEASE CREDIT PHOTO: Ralph Alswang

Bloomberg Just Another Also-Ran with Fat Wallet and Bad Ideas

Post author:Ross Marchand
Post published:January 10, 2020
Post category:International

Here we go again: another billionaire iconoclast kickstarts a presidential campaign, saturating major markets with advertising. Known for funding campaigns for higher energy costs and costly climate crusades, contestant #293291 (approximately) for the Democratic nomination is former New York mayor and anti-harm reduction crusader Michael Bloomberg. And like the vast majority of mega-rich candidates of elections past, he will almost certainly lose by a landslide. But, if Bloomberg manages to beat the odds and win the Democratic primary, it will not be because of the hundreds of millions of dollars he’s spending on advertisements. Billionaires win elections just as the other candidates do, by convincing voters that the government will work for Americans instead of driving up their cost of living.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, officers take biometric photos of passengers prior to boarding a flight at Houston International Airport on February 12, 2018. Photographer: Donna Burton

From the Russia Investigation to FBI Mass Surveillance, Government Snooping Is Out of Control

Post author:Ross Marchand
Post published:January 9, 2020
Post category:Congress Technology

The federal government may not be good at much, but it certainly has a knack for spying on its citizens (especially politically-valuable ones). From the blatantly illegal attempts to spy on protesters and Civil Rights activists in the 1960s to modern-day mass surveillance and the botched Russia investigation, government agents snoop on millions of Americans who pose little to no national security risk. But fortunately, some lawmakers have been proactive in limiting Uncle Sam’s reach. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) recently authored the “Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act” (S. 2878) which would place strict limits on agents’ use of new technologies that pose perils for countless innocent Americans. Lawmakers may not be able to make bureaucrats into angels, let alone competent at their jobs, but limiting their powers is the next best thing.

After The Boeing Starliner Snafu, NASA Must Rethink How It Does Business

Post author:Ross Marchand
Post published:January 7, 2020
Post category:NASA

Over 50 years after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) landed the first humans on the Moon, the beleaguered agency can’t even pull off basic landings at the International Space Station (ISS) in Earth’s orbit. On Dec.20, 2019, the agency debuted the delayed, over-budget Starliner capsule for a test-run to and from ISS before being deemed ready for ferrying astronauts. But the Boeing-built aircraft couldn’t even dock in the space station due to a system error, instead pointlessly orbiting Earth before landing in New Mexico on Dec. 22. Taxpayers deserve better than billions of dollars of their hard-earned money quite literally going up in smoke.

The Postal Service Rings In The New Year By Bleeding Cash

Post author:Ross Marchand
Post published:January 6, 2020
Post category:Postal Reform

As 2020 kicks off, the gift-giving season already feels like it was eons ago. But to the beleaguered and overextended United States Postal Service (USPS), the frantic pace of holiday shipping will continue well into January. Thanks to increasingly generous, “no questions asked” returns policies by leading e-commerce sellers, an astounding one third of shipped packages will be returned to manufacturers. But the USPS, which is bleeding red ink and scheduled to run out of cash by 2024, collects little from this shipping bonanza due to opaque, deeply misguided pricing policies vis-à-vis thousands of major sellers. Absent significant reforms, gift receipts will continue to cost taxpayers and consumers dearly.

Why It’s Time To Shut Down The Scandal-Plagued U.N. Palestinian Refugee Program

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:January 2, 2020
Post category:International

The United Nations (UN) has a long, sorry track record of corruption and mismanagement. The latest in its long string of scandals comes from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is facing its worst financial crisis since its founding in 1949. The UNRWA has always worked exclusively with Palestinian refugees. It operates alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which handles all other refugees globally.