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News Release | TexPIRG | Transportation

Senate Transportation Bill Misses Opportunity for Historic Change

The Senate bill falls far short of the kind of decisive progress that America’s transportation system needs. America’s beleaguered transportation system is ailing and needs new direction for the 21st century, especially to become less dependent on oil. While this bill has some good provisions, it does not step up to the task. It contains some half measures and a few meaningful fixes, as well as real missteps that we hope will be addressed.

Media Hit | Transportation

Dallas Observer: Latest Red Light Camera Study Questions the System's Financial and Safety Perks

The report, Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead, examines private companies' agreements with municipalities (about 700 throughout the country) in states that allow automated traffic law enforcement. "Contracts between private camera vendors and cities can include payment incentives that put profit above traffic safety," the report says.

News Release | TexPIRG | Transportation

New report warns Texans of red light camera risks

A new research report released today outlines problems with the growing trend among cities to outsource traffic enforcement to red-light and speed camera vendors. The report, titled Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead; The Risks of Privatizing Traffic Law Enforcement and How to Protect the Public finds that approximately half of states have enabled the use of automated traffic law enforcement.  These cameras are managed by private companies. For them, the tickets they write up are earning as much money as possible rather than keeping our roads safe.

Report | TexPIRG | Transportation

Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead

Privatized traffic law enforcement systems are spreading rapidly across the United States. As many as 700 local jurisdictions have entered into deals with for-profit companies to install camera systems at intersections and along roadways to encourage drivers to obey traffic signals and follow speed limits.

Report | TexPIRG | Health Care

Making the Grade

When it comes to health care, there are few magic-bullet solutions for the many problems consumers face in the marketplace: insurers don’t compete for their business, leading to higher prices and lower quality. Important information about coverage is buried in the fine print, making it hard to know what’s really covered or which plan is right. And costs are continuing their unsustainable rise. Yet there are policy solutions that can make a difference and give consumers a better deal on health care. One of the most important of these is the creation of new state-based health insurance marketplaces, called exchanges. These exchanges, authorized by 2010’s health reform law, offer the states the chance to address the twin problems of cost and quality, and help consumers get a fair shake when buying insurance.

News Release | TexPIRG | Health Care

Nationwide Study of New Health Exchanges Shows Texas How to Lower Costs for Consumers

Many states are creating health exchanges to deliver better value for consumers, and Texas should follow their lead, according to Making the Grade, a new report by the Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG).  Health exchanges are competitive marketplaces that can empower individuals and small businesses with better, more affordable options for coverage.  Under the federal health reform law, each state will have an exchange up and running in 2014.

Media Hit | Health Care

Dallas Morning News: Texas receives 'incomplete' on health insurance exchange report card

Texas is among 24 states, including neighbors Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, that got an "incomplete" in a scorecard on health insurance exchanges that was released Tuesday by a consumer group's research arm.

Report | TexPIRG | Food

Apples to Twinkies

America is facing an obesity epidemic—one that’s hitting children especially hard. Childhood obesity rates have tripled over the last three decades, with one in five kids aged 6 to 11 now obese. These increases in obesity rates will translate into kids who are at greater risk for heart disease and diabetes, undermining the health of our country and driving up medical costs by hundreds of billions of dollars.

News Release | TexPIRG | Food

Ag Subsidies Pay for 19 Twinkies per Taxpayer, But Only a Quarter of an Apple Apiece

Federal subsidies for commodity crops are also subsidizing junk food additives like high fructose corn syrup, enough to pay for 19 Twinkies per taxpayer every year, according to Apples to Twinkies, a new report by TexPIRG.   Meanwhile, limited subsidies for fresh fruits and vegetables would buy less than a quarter of an apple per taxpayer.

Media Hit | Health Care

Dallas Morning News: New law changing health care, costs for many Texans

 

While state GOP leaders rail against it, the federal health insurance law signed by President Barack Obama last year is increasingly changing care and costs for many Texans. Since Jan. 1, as a result of the law, tens of thousands of retirees and disabled people on Medicare have received free preventive care — and partial relief from a “doughnut hole” that’s a big financial hit if they have high drug costs. Last year, nearly a quarter-million Texans received doughnut hole rebates of $250 per person.

 

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