Our product safety net isn’t up to the job of protecting us from dangerous product. For one, America is facing a hyper-competitive, globalized marketplace, with enormous pressure to cut costs—and cut corners. And at the very moment that both corporate CEOs and top government officials should be demanding greater vigilance, we’ve seen regulations weakened or repealed and funding for watchdog agencies slashed. Just 20 years ago, there were twice as many staff at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the body charged with ensuring the safety of consumer goods. Funding at that agency is now at an all-time low. And the CPSC, along with other agencies led by administration appointees, is too willing to let companies call the shots.

AKPIRG, along with U.S. PIRG and in cooperation with other states continues to monitor important consumer issues across the state. We strive to stand up for Alaskan citizens to provide a voice against businesses and corporations focused more on the bottom line than on fairness within the marketplace.

Anchorage, AK — Health care reform can save the nation $3 trillion, with billions of dollars of benefits for every state in the union, according to a new report released today by the Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AKPIRG).

“Over the past decade, Congress has sat on the sidelines while premiums have doubled,” said AKPIRG Director Gabe Aceves.  “We know how to get skyrocketing costs under control – now it’s time for Congress to step up and pass the strong cost-saving policies that Alaska needs.”

The new report, The $3 Trillion Question: What Health Care Reform Can Save For Families, Businesses and Taxpayers, provides estimates for how much various cost-saving proposals can reduce health spending – all while improving the quality of the care we receive.  It also endorses a proposal that would bring down costs and sidestep political gridlock by empowering a new independent commission, made up of doctors and health care experts to adopt the reforms that can incentivize the highest-quality, most efficient care.

Among the potential savings identified in the report:

Streamlining health care billing and cutting red tape can reduce $350 billion of waste.
Adoption of health information technology and electronic medical records can save $180 billion.
Investing in unbiased research into the best treatments, drugs, and devices can save $480 billion.
Creating a public health insurance option to compete on a level playing field with private insurers will reduce national costs by $230 billion or more.

These reforms would save Alaska more than $7 BILLION over the next decade.

“Lawmakers are wrangling over how to fund the federal investment in reform,” continued Aceves.  “But the $1 trillion price tag is two to three times smaller than the potential economic benefits to the country as a whole.  Letting a fear of federal outlays weaken reform legislation will leave our families and businesses out to dry.”

View the full report here

Health Reform Could Mean Jobs, Economic Growth in Alaska

Health care reform means more than health care – it could mean more jobs and stronger
economic growth here in Alaska.

As the health reform debate heats up in Washington, new research suggests that health
reform could have real impact closer to home. An Alaska Public Interest Research
Group Research Brief, entitled Health Reform and the Economy, finds that proposals to
tame health care costs could allow the creation of 5,885 Alaskan jobs over a five year
period without inflationary effects, and yield stronger economic growth over the long
term.

AKPIRG Healthcare Research Brief

Every year, Alaskans pay more and more but get less and less for their health care dollar. The average total cost of an employer-sponsored family health plan in 2008 was $12,680 and is projected to nearly double by 2016.

America’s health care system is structured for drug industry, insurance company, and medical specialty profits, not better health care for American families. Alaska PIRG will be fighting for health care reform legislation that:

1. Protect families’ financial health by reducing the growth of health care premiums;
2. Make health coverage affordable by cutting administrative waste, inefficiencies and unnecessary tests and services;
3. Lay out a clear path for all Americans to afford health care
4. Provide portability of coverage so that people don’t lose their coverage when their employment status changes;
5. Guarantee choice of health plans and physicians while allowing people to keep their employer-provided coverage;
6. Invest in prevention and wellness programs that reduce the key cost drivers in the system like obesity and smoking and guarantee access to preventative treatments;
7. Improve patient safety and quality care; and,
8. Maintain long-term fiscal sustainability by reducing long-term cost growth, eliminating inefficiencies, and finding new sources of revenue.

As the new Congress and Administration take up health reform, AKPIRG will be fighting to make health care work and win basic guarantees for all American consumers, including:

• A guarantee that you, and your employer, can afford to pay for health care, and
• A guarantee that your coverage can’t be denied when you change jobs, get sick, or have a pre-existing condition.

We can’t wait for affordable, dependable health care for Alaskans. Call your elected officials and tell them fixing health care costs and guaranteeing protections for consumers should be at the top of their agenda this year.

Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK)
CALL: 202-224-3004

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
CALL: 202-224-6665

Rep. Don Young (R-AK-AL)
CALL: 202-225-5765

Nearly 120,000 Alaskans work full-time jobs with no policy for a single day of paid sick leave. These men and women are forced to choose between a paycheck and their own health, or that of a family member when struck with an illness as simple as the common cold.

Low-wage workers are most affected by the lack of sick leave, so employees who handle our food and retail items, watch our children at daycare and care for our elders end up coming to work sick, or face consequences for missing work.

Every worker deserves the basic right to a day off when confronted with an illness. That’s why a number of cities and more than a dozen states have either passed or considered paid sick days legislation.

AKPIRG has worked with the National Partnership for Women and Families and the Public Welfare Foundation and helped spur the introduction of paid sick days legislation in 2008 and we continue to work toward this important goal.

Update! Paid Sick Days on The Move In the Alaska Legislature
Senate Bill 86, which would allow Alaskan workers to earn a modest paid sick leave policy is headed to the Senate Finance Commitee where we are awaiting a hearing. We will keep you posted on this important legislation.

Despite being an energy producing state, fuel and energy prices in Alaska continue to rise. Alaskans will continue to pay higher prices for energy as long as the bulk of our utility costs are tied to the volatile prices of fossil fuels. But we can change. Alaska has more potential for true energy independence through renewable energy than any other state in the union.

Since organizing the first conference on renewable energy in Alaska in the 1970’s, AKPIRG has been dedicated to researching and advocating for an independent energy policy in Alaska. Our state has more potential for renewable energy than anywhere in the U.S. including vast potential for tidal, wind and geothermal projects.

In 2007 AKPIRG helped secure a $50 million Renewable Energy Fund to support projects across the state, and we continue to seek out solutions to one of the most important issues of this generation.

Nothing is more critical to the success of our Democracy than free and fair elections. A citizen’s right to cast a ballot free from discrimination, prejudice, partisanship and intimidation is a right that should be guarded without compromise.

Money plays far too great a role in every level of American elections. Large contributions from a few groups and individuals unduly influence who wins elections and reduce the role of ordinary voters in our democracy.

The Alaska Public Interest Research Group has worked for years to promote reforms that ensure our integrity in our elections, and within our government. From campaign finance reform to stricter lobbying regulations, AKPIRG has fought on behalf of ordinary citizens against powerful interests and won.

Some of our successes include the campaign to get Big Money Out of Alaska Politics, rolling back the unpopular laws that allowed high dollar contributions in Alaska elections, and a successful campaign to save the Alaska Public Offices Commission from being deactivated by the Murkowski administration.

AKPIRG is committed to fighting for fair elections and ethical government from the municipal level to the U.S. presidency.