The Indianapolis Star

This Isn't What We Hoped For | Indianapolis Star

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:57:00 -0500

But Mayer and the nonprofit New America Foundation report that more US drone strikes were launched in Pakistan during the first nine months of the Obama ...

Health Insurance Costs in Dispute | Indianapolis Star

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:48:00 -0500

Len Nichols -- health economist at the New America Foundation, a public policy institute -- said insurance companies are right to raise concerns about ...

Health-Care Debate Pushes Many Voters to the Edge | Indianapolis Star

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:22:00 -0400

That's one reason for the pushback, said Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program for the New America Foundation, a Washington-based policy think ... and more »

Shannon Brownlee in the Indianapolis Star | 'One Drug, Many Uses. Good idea?'

Communications — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:34:00 -0400

..."I think the question is, should one drug compound do so much?" said Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer.

"This is a drug that may have a really serious side effect called suicide," Brownlee said. "Don't we have other drugs available that are safer and just as effective for such things as the management of chronic knee and low back pain?"... LINK

Indianapolis Star Quotes Michael Dannenberg on Student Loan System

Communications — Fri, 04 May 2007 11:05:00 -0400

The markers of a mushrooming student loan scandal are identical to so many of the rest: The Bush administration, determined to turn the federal government into a favor bank for its corporate cronies, ignored every indicator that the $85 billion-a-year student loan industry was rife with corruption...Never mind, the Bush people said. The lenders could police themselves.So the lenders voluntarily heaped ever more lavish perks on colleges and financial aid officers, including "revenue sharing" arrangements under which institutions of higher education got a percentage of each loan taken out by students who, in innocence, had signed on with the preferred lender. New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo calls it "a form of kickback scheme." That Cuomo has uncovered this cesspool -- not the federal Department of Education or Congress, when it was run by Republicans -- is part of the pattern...Here is what the lending industry gets in the deal: The federal government assumes all risk against default. It fixes the interest rates, but the student's interest payments on these risk-free loans go to the lender, not the Treasury. Still more taxpayer subsidies are given to lenders to "induce" them -- there's that… more

President of Notre Dame Implicated in Student Loan Scandal

Communications — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:34:00 -0400

Every day at colleges across the country, financial aid administrators help students navigate the complicated maze of grants and loans they need to finance their educations.So many took exception when New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo started a probe of the field's practices...Cuomo's office, with separate research from the Washington-based New America Foundation, have uncovered troubling ties between student loan companies and college financial aid officers, who are supposed to give students unbiased advice on borrowing.The controversy involves preferred-lender lists maintained by many colleges. Students may borrow anywhere, but they often seek advice from college financial aid officers. Schools often list a preferred lender or lenders and typically direct students to them. For lenders, securing spots on such lists is crucial for business...And at the University of Notre Dame, Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves collected $58,984 last year in eight months as a director of Student Loan Corp., a lender to ND's students and parents. That firm is tied to Citibank, which Notre Dame "strongly" recommends to students..."This is an ethical earthquake," said Ian Mitroff, 69, business professor emeritus at the University of Southern California..

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