Copyright 2000 The Kansas City Star Co.
THE KANSAS
CITY STAR
October 29, 2000, Sunday METROPOLITAN EDITION
SECTION: SUNDAY BUSINESS; Pg. F5 ;SURVIVAL SKILLS
-NOTES-
LENGTH: 845 words
HEADLINE: Bankruptcy reform? Thank heavens nature is
free
BYLINE: PAUL WENSKE
BODY:
It's about 7:15 a.m., and fresh morning sunlight is melting away
the
shadows in the back yard.
I'm sitting at my favorite staring space, the
kitchen table,
drinking coffee and watching little tornadoes of golden
leaves
swirling about on grass sparkling from the dew.
October is a
dappled month of contrasts and transitions. On such
a gorgeous morning it is
near impossible not to find in some light
and airy place of your soul a
sense of being blessed.
My mind drifts. I almost expect to hear in the
rustling of the
leaves a comforting voice that says: "This priceless moment
of
nature has been brought to you interest-free by God."
How's that
for a commercial break? You don't even need
MasterCard. Oh well, back to
consumer reality.
Bankruptcy bill bites
Personal bankruptcy rates
are dropping. People filing for
bankruptcy protection continue to be those
who have lost their jobs,
have health problems or are going through a
divorce.
But well-heeled consumer credit companies are still pushing a
bankruptcy reform bill that will make losers out of financially
strapped
consumers. The bill has already passed the House.
The current bill not
only will make it harder to file for
bankruptcy, but also will make it more
difficult to discharge debts.
In fact, some consumers could be hounded by
creditors for years.
This bill has the effect of placing debts for car
loans and
credit cards in the same class as alimony and child support. No
wonder 54 bankruptcy and commercial law professors this past week
signed
a letter to Congress opposing it.
"The big winners here will be consumer
lenders," said Robert M.
Lawless, a University of Missouri-Columbia law
professor whose recent
paper correlates bankruptcies to rising consumer
debt.
"Many Americans will find themselves in debt servitude, trying
to pay off crushing obligations," Lawless said.
Credit lenders
insist that present bankruptcy laws are now used
by rich vagrants to walk
away from billions of dollars in debt that
costs each hard-working American
$400 a year.
Well, that's hard to believe. I've dug
through several hundred
bankruptcy cases. And most people who file make less
than $25,000 a
year. Check it out yourself. For many,
bankruptcy is the only way to
shed huge medical bills for which they lack
health care insurance.
Sure, some wealthy scofflaws seek to avoid their
debts. "But
that is a very small minority," Lawless said.
Are credit
card companies really suffering? Ask yourself this: If
they're concerned
about spendthrift Americans ignoring their debts,
why do they flood us with
junk mail come-ons?
Oh, by the way, the credit card companies were able
to defeat a
measure that would have required them to disclose more
information
about how interest builds on minimum monthly payments.
Government for
Overall, consumers did not fare
all that badly this year in
Congress. Not great, mind you. But not badly. A
few examples:
The nonprofit consumer group Public Citizen reports that
while no
major legislation became law, "significant progress was made toward
our goals of enacting meaningful campaign finance reforms, a
pro-consumer patients' bill of Rights, a prescription drug benefit
for
Medicare recipients, and legislation to reduce drug prices."
In the end,
a coalition of consumers and medical providers helped
bridge political
differences between Republicans and Democrats to
create a bipartisan
patients' rights bill in the House.
The bill would allow consumers to
hold their HMOs and other
managed care plans accountable in state court for
the denial of
needed care. The bill has hit a wall in the Senate, however.
Campaign finance reform stumbled. Although there was bipartisan
support for a Senate reform bill, pushed by Republican Sen. John
McCain
of Arizona, the reform effort fell shy of going over the top.
Congress
also passed a limited auto safety bill in the wake of
hearings over
defective Firestone tires.
But the Senate rejected an amendment to an
energy bill that could
have encouraged better fuel efficiency
standards for cars and trucks
and reduced gasoline consumption and
air pollution.
Medicare book hype
Last week I wrote that the Health
Care Financing Administration
had proudly sent out its new Medicare
handbooks. A reader believes
strongly I was taken in by the group's public
relations spin.
"Have you actually seen this new 'Medicare and You'
handbook?"
asked this incredulous correspondent.
"Almost all the
information is about 2000 and then it says there
may be changes for 2001,
not specified yet. Why in the world didn't
they wait until they knew what
the changes would be?
"It's virtually useless as it is. Such a waste of
money and
paper."
Will such reviews hurt a movie deal?
Do
you have a story tip or idea? Call Paul Wenske, consumer
affairs writer, at
(816) 234-4454 or send e-mail to
pwenske@kcstar.com.
Paul Wenske is
part of the StarWatch Consumer News Team
LOAD-DATE:
April 20, 2001 
