A ​‘Groundbreaking’ Report on Bail Reform in Texas

By Torie Ludwin, communications manager

In the world of students overwhelmed by crushing debt from predatory schools, it’s helpful to be able to turn to someone with a law degree to navigate a system as complex as federal student loan regulations. The litigation and advocacy work by the Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL) has made hundreds of thousands of students whole after having been trapped in debt from fraudulent schools.
 

What’s Happening: While Biden’s recent announcement on student loan cancellation has dominated the news, the U.S. Department of Education has been making billions of dollars of targeted debt cancellations this year for students who have been defrauded by predatory institutions such as ITT Tech, Westwood, Corinthian, and others. PPSL had a hand in defending former ITT students as well as others in similar situations.
 

Why it Matters: When predatory institutions do not face accountability, they are able to continue to take federal student loan dollars and provide worthless degrees in return. Organizations like PPSL are able to bring accountability to these schools via litigation and help make students whole again. Jennifer Lezan, above, is one of those students. After being defrauded by the Art Institute in Chicago, she became a class member in the Project for Predatory Student Lending’s Sweet vs. Cardona settlement.
 

What’s Next: The U.S. Department of Education is working to increase accountability and protect students through negotiated rulemaking, and Congress could also have a role. As PPSL President and Director Eileen Connor says in her interview with AV, she’d like to see Congress “make the Higher Education Act deliver on its promise and its purpose.”

Related: Read "Shattered," a portrait series on American students harmed by predatory colleges and universities.
 

Related: In a letter to the Education Department as part of negotiated rulemaking, AV advocates for stronger accountability rules in higher education, including a Borrower Defense Rule that further protects students from predatory institutions.

ICYMI: In an op-ed for CNBC, our Co-Founder and Co-Chair Laura Arnold explains why debt forgiveness will have no long-term effect on an already dysfunctional higher education system and offers several practical paths forward.

By Juliana Keeping, communications manager
 

California is pushing back against high health care prices charged by doctors and hospitals with its new Office of Health Care Affordability, or OHCA, which will set and enforce targets for health care cost growth in the state. The legislation that created it had broad and diverse support: Labor, employers, consumers, and health insurance plans all came together to ensure its passage.
 

Why it Matters: Of the 10 highest-priced health systems in the U.S., six are located in California. Prices paid to health care providers — like hospitals — are the leading driver of health care costs for commercial insurance. On average, commercial prices in California are 285% of Medicare, with some hospitals charging 450% more than what Medicare pays for the same service. That means higher premiums paid by consumers and businesses and higher out-of-pocket costs for patients.
 

What Else: California joins a group of states already using cost growth benchmarks — a cost-containment strategy that limits how much a state’s health care spending can grow each year. What's more, California’s approach is the most comprehensive to date because it includes a strong enforcement mechanism: If doctors and hospitals exceed the benchmark OHCA sets, OHCA has the authority to levy penalty fines commensurate with the amount providers exceeded by. In other words, the state could require doctors and hospitals to pay back all amounts in excess of the benchmark. 
 

By Adam Shamsi, Arnold Ventures contributor
 

It’s the match we all dream about in our evidence-based policy hearts. Over one short year, the newly formed Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative (CEEMI) worked with legislators from both parties to get language into two bills that expand the use of evidence and support for evidence-based programs.
 

Why it Matters: When economic growth dollars are on the table, they need to be used equitably toward programs that have rigorous research showing they work. Thanks to CEEMI, Colorado’s $91 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are going to programs like Per Scholas that have a proven evidence base. The state will also be able to fund testing of new approaches to workforce training. This will allow Colorado to substantially grow the supply of shovel-ready effective programs between now and 2026 — and bring them to the state in the most equitable way possible.
 

What’s Next: CEEMI is looking at how to evaluate the effectiveness of the standard formulas some federal programs — like the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — use to disburse federal funds.

Criminal Justice

• Almost 30 years ago, California enacted a Three Strikes law. In a new report, the California Policy Lab looks at how the law has played out, including how many people had their sentences lengthened, what for, and whether the law deterred crime.
   
• Red counties in California share the same problems of dark-blue Los Angeles and San Francisco: poverty, homelessness, drugs — and they are doing worse on homicides, The Los Angeles Times reports, yet the blame is being placed on progressive district attorneys and reforms. 
   
• Bail reform in New York is under threat thanks to misinformation and fearmongering, writes Teen Vogue in partnership with Zealous, an organization that amplifies the voices of public defenders.
   
• NPR offers an update on the new national 988 hotline, an alternative to involving police or an ambulance for a mental health crisis.
   
• A bill that would ban the practice of solitary confinement in New York City jails now has a veto-proof supermajority of support among city lawmakers, reports NBC News.
  
  Dive Deeper: Solitary confinement leaves people broken in mind and body. Some states are realizing they’ve gone too far in the name of punishment. 
   
• Guards at Rikers Island jail are accused of failing to intervene when a mentally ill man slit his throat with a razor. Michael Nieves is the 13th person to die this year at the jail complex, The New York Times reports. (free link) 
   

Health Care

• Specialty drugs are driving high drug prices, but they are often not captured in the Consumer Price Index — a measure used to show drug price growth. What does this mean for understanding how prescription drug prices are rising? Brookings breaks it down.
   
• The Bipartisan Policy Center highlights the importance of setting Medicare on a fiscally sustainable path.
   
• Hospital prices are going up — and workers and businesses are suffering, STAT reports.
   

Higher Education

• The Education Department continues its targeted student debt cancellation, reports CNBC, this week for 79,000 student borrowers who attended Westwood College, totaling $1.5 billion in relief.
   
• The U.S. Department of Education should “kick out scammy schools” from the federal student loan system, writes Catherine Rampell in The Washington Post. (free link) 
   

Contraceptive Choice & Access

• A peer-reviewed special issue of the American Journal of Public Health — a collaboration of the Coalition to Expand Contraceptive Access (CECA) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) — focuses on reshaping the field's approach to contraceptive access initiatives. The issue highlights the unique role statewide contraceptive access policies play in addressing barriers to access; presents emerging evidence that sets the stage for future guidelines on contraceptive access initiatives; and explores critical policy issues.
   
• Medscape talks to clinicians about over-the-counter birth control. "Accessing contraception over the counter could be a game changer for people who experience common barriers to accessing clinics," said Melissa Kottke, MD, associate professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
   

Democracy

• FairVote gives an analysis of Alaska’s recent primary election using ranked-choice voting.
   

Journalism

• Politico's profile of Jelani Cobb of Columbia Journalism School explores how the new dean hopes to democratize the journalism profession.
   
• The power of local news: Journalists at Mississippi Today are providing a lifeline of information, resources and support for their neighbors amid an unfolding water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi.
   
• Investigative reporters from Type Media, the Center for Public Integrity, and other organizations teamed up on a sweeping investigation exposing the federal government's limited ability to help people relocate from homes plagued by repeated natural disasters fueled by climate change. The reporting was enabled by support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

In a new episode of "Our American States," the National Conference of State Legislatures examines another aspect of the drug pricing debate: transparency. While efforts have been made to lower the cost of drugs, these efforts often apply only to insured patients and don't alter a drug's list price — many uninsured or underinsured patients may be responsible for the full price of a drug. Host Ed Smith sits down with two lawmakers — Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk, a Democrat from Maryland, and Rep. Tom Oliverson, a Republican from Texas — to unpack bipartisan solutions for states to make drug prices more transparent. 

The Center for Health Care Strategies is seeking states to participate in the "Medicare Academy: Capacity-Building for Advancing Medicare-Medicaid Integration" — a 10-month training program designed to help Medicaid staff build the Medicare knowledge needed to successfully advance integration efforts. Up to eight state teams will be selected for the academy, which is made possible by Arnold Ventures, The Commonwealth Fund, and The SCAN Foundation. Medicaid agencies in all states, commonwealths, and territories are eligible to apply. The academy will be provided at no cost to participating teams. Applications are due Sept. 9, 2022. Learn more and apply.

• A Baltimore dad created a cardboard space shuttle and a kid-size launch pad — and cleaned up a neighborhood eyesore in the process. 
   
• An all-Black female flight crew makes history honoring icon Bessie Coleman.
   
• A bolt from Apollo 11. Four Lego minifigs. A packet of sycamore tree seeds. NASA's Orion, set to launch as part of the Artemis mission, will ferry an interesting cargo. 
   
• To celebrate National Cinema Day, movie theaters across the U.S. will offer $3 movie tickets this Saturday. "Top Gun: Maverick," anyone?