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A2 u.s. news
Friday 9 September 2022
Regulators try to stop unlawful nursing home debt collection

By FATIMA HUSSEIN after her friend's death. The
Associated Press report did not identify the
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nurs- individuals by name.
ing homes and debt col- The consumer bureau said
lectors are flouting a law in a statement that "col-
that prohibits them from lection of debts from those
requiring friends and family contracts may violate the
of care home residents to consumer financial protec-
shoulder the costs of the fa- tion laws, including the Fair
cilities, according to a fed- Debt Collection Practices
eral report issued Thursday. Act" and its prohibition on
The Consumer Financial false, deceptive, or mis-
Protection Bureau said leading representations
friends and family members connected to debt collec-
have had to declare bank- tion.
ruptcy, had their wages The Centers for Disease
garnished and their homes Control and Prevention re-
repossessed after signing ports 1.3 million people live
unenforceable contracts in nursing homes.
called "admission agree- As more people in the Unit-
ments" with nursing facili- ed States age, the cost of
ties. As a result, they have nursing home care is grow-
been held liable as third ing along with demand.
parties for their loved ones' Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, speaks from the South Court The price has soar in the
nursing home stays. Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, April 11, 2022, about medical debt during past 20 years. In 2021, the
an event with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Distraught relatives, in Associated Press annual median cost of a
sometimes emotional testi- single room in a nursing
mony, and lawyers for fami- Rohit Chopra, director of "It's not only routine" she officials on the call to do home was $108,405. Be-
lies told regulators Thursday the consumer bureau, held said. "It's a deeply troubling something to stop credi- tween 2004 and 2020, the
about collectors seeking a virtual public hearing with practice." tors from hounding him cost rose by more than 60%.
tens of thousands of dollars advocates, nursing home She said it "puts families and others for money that Most older adults are not
— even hundreds of thou- administrators and people in a position of having to should not be legally owed. insured against the costs
sands — in unpaid nursing affected by what they say choose between protect- "I implore you to do some- of long-term care. Medi-
home fees. are unlawful debt collec- ing their family members at thing to stop them," he said. care, which covers adults
An increase in complaints tion practices. nursing facilities or putting "This is wrong." once they reach 65, of-
led the agency and De- Anna Anderson, a consum- themselves in a position of The report described one fers limited benefits based
partment of Health and er protection lawyer in New financial ruin." woman who was sent to on need and only pays
Human Services' Centers York, said she has seen Chris Ferris spoke of how collections for $80,000 two for nursing home care for
for Medicare and Medic- hundreds of lawsuits filed he received a collection days after her mother's up to 100 days. Medicaid
aid Services to send a letter against friends and family letter for thousands of dol- death. Another woman re- helps low-income people
to nursing homes and their of care home residents that lars for his mother's nursing ceived a letter from a law pay for nursing home care
debt collectors reminding seek reimbursement for of home stay. Through tears, firm stating that she owed but eligibility rules can be
them to follow the law. facilities' costs. he pleaded with bureau the nursing home $17,000 stringent.q

U.S. changes names of places with

racist term for Native women

places bearing the offen- Thursday capped an al- While the term in ques-
sive word "squaw" include most year-long process tion, identified as "sq___"
the mundane (Echo Peak, that began after Haaland, by the Interior Department
Texas) peculiar (No Name the first Native American on Thursday, has met wide
Island, Maine) and Indig- to lead a Cabinet agency, scorn in the U.S. only some-
enous terms (Pannaite Na- took office in 2021. Haa- what recently, changing
okwaide, Wyoming) whose land is from Laguna Pueblo place names in response to
meaning at a glance will in New Mexico. broadening opposition to
elude those unfamiliar with Haaland in November de- racism has long precedent.
Native languages. clared the term derogatory The department ordered
"I feel a deep obligation to and ordered members of the renaming of places car-
use my platform to ensure the Board on Geographic rying a derogatory term for
A sign marking the 1960 Winter Olympics is seen by a chairlift that our public lands and Names, the Interior Depart- Black people in 1962 and
at what was then called Squaw Valley Ski Resort, July 9, 2020, in waters are accessible and ment panel that oversees those with a derogatory
Olympic Valley, Calif.
Associated Press welcoming. uniform naming of places term for Japanese people
That starts with remov- in the U.S., and others to in 1974.
By MEAD GRUVER American woman by re- ing racist and derogatory come up with alternatives. A Maine ski area also com-
Associated Press naming hundreds of peaks, names that have graced Haaland meanwhile cre- mitted in 2021 to changing
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — lakes, streams and other federal locations for far ated a panel that will take its name, two decades af-
The U.S. government has geographical features on too long," Interior Secre- suggestions from the public ter that state removed the
joined a ski resort and oth- federal lands in the West tary Deb Haaland said in a on changing other places slur from names of com-
ers that have quit using and elsewhere. statement. named with derogatory munities and landmarks,
a racist term for a Native New names for nearly 650 The changes announced terms. though it has yet to do so.q