Category Archives: Uncategorized

Recent FTC consumer protection efforts

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced two actions potentially of interest to readers: The FTC announced that it halted an operation that unlawfully shared and sold consumers' sensitive data. The operators of a lead generation business agreed to settle charges brought by the FTC that the company misled consumers into filling out loan applications and […]

Recent announcements of DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch

June 26, 2017 – Owner of New England Compounding Center Sentenced for Racketeering Leading to Nationwide Fungal Meningitis Outbreak June 22, 2017 – Pharmacy Owner and Director of Compliance Charged with Defrauding United States and Distributing Adulterated Drugs June 15, 2017 – Department of Justice Observes World Elder Abuse Awareness Day June 15, 2017 – […]

Enabling Facebook Users to Protect Their Free Speech Rights

by Paul Alan Levy An important appeal is pending in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals – the highest appellate court in D.C. The federal government served D.C. warrants on Facebook, demanding access to the entirety of 90 days worth of communications in three separate Facebook accounts, including identifying information.  (Presumably, the reason why […]

Arbitration rule at the Department of Education is under attack

In case you missed it earlier this month, the Trump Administration has indicated it will turn its back on another Obama-era rule, this time at the Department of Education (ED). In November 2016, ED announced a new rule to protect federal student loan borrowers who are victims of fraud and other misconduct by predatory schools, […]

CFPB acts against credit repair companies for charging illegal fees and misleading consumers

Still at work, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today filed two complaints and proposed final judgments in federal court against four California-based credit repair companies and three individuals for misleading consumers and charging illegal fees. The CFPB alleges that the companies charged illegal advance fees for credit repair services, and also misrepresented their ability to […]

“Health Insurance Coverage and Health — What the Recent Evidence Tells Us”

That's the name of this New England Journal of Medicine article by Benjamin D. Sommers, Atul A. Gawande, and Katherine Baicker. They looked carefully at the literature asking whether having health insurance improves health outcomes. The authors also looked at a range of variables, including the quality of insurance. Here are excerpts from of their conclusions: One question experts […]

Sarah Kliff on the CBO’s score of the Senate health care bill

Read health-care journalist Sarah Kliff's article titled Page 48 is the most important page in the CBO report. The whole thing is worth reading. Here's a key takeaway: The CBO report is a dense 49-page document that you can read here. But you can find its clearest explanation of the Senate bill on page 48. This is […]