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New America Blogs - New Voices, Innovative Ideas, Post-Partisan Policy

The New America Foundation has a growing collection of policy blogs, as well as a wide array of independent projects by individual fellows and staff. Recent highlights are available below, or use the links at right to dig more deeply into a particular blo

HEALTH REFORM: Small Businesses Eager for New Health Care ApproachToday

Small businesses, who see the rising cost of health care as their primary challenge, are ready for change. In fact, a new survey of 400 small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) who currently pay for some portion of their workers' health insurance shows they are open to considering all sorts of different forms of change from left, right, and center.

In fact, 42 percent said “making health care more affordable” should be the issue that Congress and the new president consider first.

More than one-in-three small business owners (36%) said that rising costs are likely to cause them to cut some portion of health insurance benefits for their employees, according to the survey released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted jointly by Public Opinion Strategies and Lake Research Partners.

“Many small business owners have already reduced their health benefits and asked employees to pay a larger share of the premium, and still they struggle with the ever-increasing costs,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which released the report. “They want health care reform that reduces the burden on their business and where all Americans have affordable he

Guest Post: A Bankrupt PolicyToday

By Deanne Loonin

As most readers of Higher Ed Watch know, current bankruptcy law treats students who face financial distress the same severe way as people who are trying to discharge child support debts, alimony, overdue taxes and criminal fines. It's difficult to separate fact from fiction when trying to understand the logic behind this policy, but one thing is clear -- the restrictions came about without any empirical evidence that students were more likely to "abuse" the bankruptcy system.

Unfortunately, the legislative history of the student loan bankruptcy provision sheds little light.

The bare facts are that in 1976, Congress made student loans generally non-dischargeable except five years after default or if the borrower could prove "undue hardship." Since then, there have been three significant legislative changes. First, in 1990, the five year period was extended to seven years. In 1998, Congress eliminated the seven-year floor primarily as a budget savings gimmick to pay for student loan changes it made when it reauthorized the Higher Education Act that year. Finally, in 2005, lawmakers included private loans in the non-discharg

QUALITY: Health Reform With All Things Considered Must Address Primary CareYesterday

Sitting in traffic Sunday with the rest of those migrating Turkey Day pilgrims, we caught a story by Karen Brown on NPR's All Things Considered. It seems long lines aren’t limited to the highways of Pennsylvania, and that many of those 440,000 newly—covered by health insurance in Massachusettsare having trouble getting access to a primary care doctor.

The story should be familiar to those who have followed closely the developments of Massachusetts. We've written in the past about some of the challenges facing the state's reform efforts.Physician shortages are certainly high on the list.

As Brown’s story makes clear, there was a great deal of pent of demand for health care among people who had long delayed care because they didn't have the insurance to pay for it. Now, with hundreds of thousands of newly—covered individuals, commentators like KevinMD aren’t surprised that facilities like

Employers Aid Workers in Financial DistressYesterday

It's official. On Monday the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007. This news came as no surprise to many consumers. They have been feeling the impact of escalating unemployment rates and increasing food and other costs for quite some time. Many people have been struggling to afford basic needs like food, child care, housing, and transportation and this financial stress often spills over into the workplace. Employers are taking notice of the stress and are providing some help.

Last week in an article published by the Wall Street Journal titled "Crisis Help via Work," they reported that more and more workers are feeling stress from job pressures and from the turmoil in the financial markets. To help alleviate this stress, some employers are offering free financial counseling. In the article, the WSJ cited an EAP program that provides assistance with budgeting and debt reduction by certified financial planners, accountants, and attorneys through confidential telephone counseling sessions. This sounds like a win-win solution to help workers deal with stress and to help employers gain more productive employees, but there are some challenges in engaging more employers to adopt this service.

The New America Foundation recently commissioned research conducted by

Don't Pass the BuckYesterday

With Thanksgiving behind us, it is officially the start of the gift-giving season. Unfortunately, students at public colleges and universities across the country can already expect an unwanted present from their governors -- tuition and fee increases. At least coal could have been used for heat.

Students are going to face increased tuition burdens, both for next semester and the following academic year, because governors and state legislators often turn to higher education when they need to make budget cuts. But increasing tuition could lead more students to drop out or delay enrollment -- lowering graduation rates and stranding students with debt. To prevent these negative outcomes, we urge states to make a sustained commitment to higher education, while asking schools to reexamine their financial aid and revenue allocation policies.

The coming months are going to be gloomy for higher education funding. Several states have already announced plans for postsecondary education cuts, and many more are sure to follow suit. The governors of New York and California -- the two states with the largest public higher education systems in the country -- recently proposed a new round of budget cuts on to