IS IT TRUE DECEMBER 19, 2017

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We hope that todays “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?”

IS IT TRUE we are told that the search to find a new President/CEO for the Area Chamber of Commerce is becoming a little political?

IS IT TRUE we are hearing that there is a quiet movement a foot to find a way to fund a discount grocery operation on North Main Street?

IS IT TRUE that Courier and Press columnist Jon Webb just wrote an article entitled “Lets Talk About The Pig” that is not only very funny but also an accurate read?  … Mr. Webb’ wrote; “that’s two-grand of public money being used to finance a holiday gathering with a main dish that looks like it was plucked from Louis XVI’s opium hallucinations” is just down right funny?  …that Jon Webb “Let’s Talk About the PiG” article was masterfully written?  …we highly recommend that you go to the Courier and Press and read his “Let’s Talk About the PiG” article?

IS IT TRUE we are told that we will find it extremely interesting to learn who has purchased the Evansville Courier and Press current Corporate office building located on Walnut at the beginning of the new year?  …we expect that the Courier and Press will also announce a new direction for it’s publication in order that they will become more productive and profitable?  …that the City County Observer wishes the good people at the Courier and Press many more successful years in the publishing business?

IS IT TRUE we’ve been told that Steve Hammer, Republican primary candidate for the Vanderburgh County Commission campaign war-chest is now over $50,000?  …when we received information about the financial condition of the other candidates running for this seat we shall also publish it?

IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation has embarked on a mission to sue any and all families that owe them money for school lunches and book rentals?…it has been reported that over $50,000 is owed in total for lunches and book rentals?…that there are over 2,000 parents that are getting sued by the EVSC for the food that their children have eaten and the book rentals that their children hopefully read to further their education?…that the real tragedy with respect to this whole lawsuit thing is that each lawsuit filed generates roughly $200 in legal fees and court costs that is added to the overdue bill?…this means that some people who are being sued for overdue meals of under $100 and getting stuck with judgements of nearly $300 turning a $50,000 problem into a $150,000 problem for the families who owe this money?

IS IT TRUE that we have it on good authority that the EVSC tried everything possible to get paid the easy way?…the EVSC was even offering settlements that could be paid off at a rate of $1 per week and a number of the parents either ignored or availed themselves of the opportunity to get these debts settled for a single dollar per week?…this is one of those stories that we wish never had to be told and the kids are literally just stuck in the middle between the EVSC that has a legitimate need to collect and their parents who have failed to pay for their children’s lunches?…we hope this whole sordid episode leads to constructive changes that allow for children to be fed at school and gives the EVSC some other way to collect what is due to them without taking indigent parents to court?

IS IT TRUE that when it comes to the usury text book rentals that Indiana imposes on its public school students, this should have never been put into law?…public education requires books and a public education in the United States of America is assumed to be free?…some of the book rentals in the public schools in Indiana can run upwards of $200 per child per year and Indiana is a poor state?…the City County Observer understands that food is costly and is not an assumed part of public education but the books are another story?…it is time for Indiana as a state to absorb the costs of text books or their equivalents and to do this as quick as it can be done?…this is part of building a quality workforce and to fail to provide these materials undermines the ability of the State of Indiana to grow a decent future workforce?

IS IT TRUE back in 2016 ProPublica and NPR did an investigative article on the  forgiveness of debts practices and the lawsuits filed against poor patients of Heartland Regional Medical Center (now called Mosaic Life Care) hospital located in the small city of St. Joseph, Mo?  …while ProPublica and NPR were doing the research for this article they discovered that the not-for-profit Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. filed more than 20,000 collection lawsuits against patients from 2010 through 2015, according to ProPublica’s analysis of state court data? …after questioning by ProPublica, Deaconess officials said it was reconsidering its financial assistance policies and would be making changes.

IS IT TRUE we wonder how many people have received summons to appear at the Warrick, Posey and Vanderburgh County Superior Court-Small Claims Division to dispute the validity of a medical debt allegedly owed for medical services at Deaconess Hospital, Inc. during the last two years?

IS IT TRUE that ProPublica claims that medical bills are often riddled with errors? …that they also suggests that you should ask your medical provider if they have a financial assistance policy, which could result in a sliding scale discount?

Todays “Readers Poll” question is: Which local tax increase or reduction did you dislike the most?

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EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City County Observer or our advertisers

 

 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Of course book rental and school lunch bills should be paid. But consider the terrible semantics of these statements, both true, when combined.
    EVSC sues parents for $50,000 unpaid school lunches and book rental. Earlier this year EVSC bought an operating golf course for $3,370,000. Just sayin’.

  2. it has been reported that over $50,000 is owed in total for lunches and book rentals?… That is much less than the overpriced administrators. They get $80 to $100 thousand a year. Fire one of those deadbeats and take care of the kids. I’m sorry but this is a pittance in comparison to the school corp budget. But I am not sure the school corp were ever for the kids.

  3. The article in the C&P has what appears to be a fairly blatant misdirection effort (maybe some would classify it as an untruth) in the original article from the lawyer from Cox Law Office.

    From the article on C&P:

    “Robert Garwood, a former Cox Law Office attorney who said he filed suit against, or negotiated with, 2,000 families for EVSC in 2016 and 2017, said Cox Law begins every case by sending its own demand letter and waiting 30 days for a response. The intent is to help debtors avoid the court costs that come with default judgments. After all, the lawyers don’t get that money. It goes to the court”

    Garwood indicates that the demand letter Cox Law sends gives the person 30 days to clear things up, but that is disingenuous beyond belief IMHO. The “intent” of their “letter” is to satisfy the mandates in federal law, because that 30-day window is from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) as administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

    Per the FDCPA this “letter” has to have a number of items in it that include (but is not limited to)

    (a) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector

    (b) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector

    From the FDCPA “If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt, and a copy is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector”

    So his allegation that their “demand letter” is sent for “the intent is to help debtors avoid the court costs that come with default judgments” does not pass the smell test for me. I’ve worked in medical collections for decades, so I have worked with collection agencies for a long time. Basically, if the debt amount is not disputed by the parents as an inaccurate amount, at that point collection efforts can begin. On top of the amount owed, this begins the clock ticking for the imposition of interest and other penalties to kick in. That 30-day window is NOT just intended to give the parents time to arrange payment arrangements, and IMHO it was VERY insincere to have the lawyer try and assert that the original demand letter was made out of the proverbial goodness of their hearts so that parents behind on fees could contact the collection attorney to arrange payment. If the ENTIRE effort is not paid immediately, then the collection effort can and will continue. But most significantly, the interest and court costs and attorney fees can start piling up. If the EVSC is like most, the date of the interest goes back to the date the contract (be it book fees, computer fees, or other services) was signed.

    I would like to see someone (perhaps the fine folks at the CCO) do better reporting and investigation to see what the original contract the parents sign with EVSC has written in it. It is mandatory (in Federal and State collection regulations) for any associated fees to be collected to be outlined in the original contract, including the interest rate. The reason this is very important for the interest costs that EVSC and Cox Law are trying to collect. This could be significant since per the FDCPA, the collection of any amount “including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation” is prohibited unless “such amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law”

    I think it would also be interesting to see how and where the collection language is buried in the paperwork signed by parents when they enroll children in EVSC. Is it stated in a clear, obvious, and unambiguous way for parents to see, or is it buried somewhere in a document (or multiple documents) of dozens of pages. Interest rates for certain past due amounts can (and are) capped on both a Federal and State level, so I have to wonder if EVSC is using the maximum as allowed by law. And since the rate of that interest cap can change from time to time, has the collection interest rate been changed in the contracts or agreements parents sign with EVSC

    Don’t get me wrong, if there are valid fees associated with a parent and they do zero to take care of them, then they will be forced to be accountable for them. I have not had any children in EVSC for over 15 years, but I recall parents complaining back when I did of how inflexible EVSC could be for certain costs. The assertion by EVSC that they will take “$1 a week” sound like a load of hooey to me. If a parent owes for something (we will use textbooks for my example) for a single enrolled child and it is $100, that would mean that EVSC would maintain a payment system that would force them to manage the books for two years for a single debt. The overhead for that is beyond ignorant, and considering how many students are in EVSC each year, it stretches the imagination to believe that EVSC will allow parents to pay “$1 a year” frequently.

    As Paul Harvey would say, we want “the rest of the story”

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