ND1017111

Title: Washington Report: ATM Operators File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Visa, MC

Description: Also, the Obama administration announced it would not implement a costly long-term health insurance plan as part of the 2010 health-care law.

Page Content: Week Ahead

The House is in recess this week.� In the Senate, the first fiscal 2012 ?minibus? will be brought to the floor today.� Senators will consider a substitute amendment to the spending vehicle that combines the text of committee-reported versions of the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills.

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Week in Review

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Major Provision of Health Care Law Found Unsustainable

On October 14, the Obama administration announced they would not implement a long-term care insurance program that is part of the 2010 health-care law.

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Known as the Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) Act, the program was intended to be purely voluntary and open to all working Americans. It would have provided a basic lifetime benefit of a least $50 a day in the event of illness or disability, to be used to pay for even nonmedical needs, such as using the toilet if they became unable to care for themselves or making a house wheelchair-accessible.

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The program was to be entirely self-financed with the premiums participants paid. However, after actuaries spent 19 months attempting to design a voluntary long-term insurance care program to meet the law?s requirements, they found they would have had to set premiums so high that few healthy people would enroll.�And without a large share of healthy people in the pool, the CLASS plan would have become even more expensive, forcing the government to raise premiums even higher, to the point of the program?s collapse.

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The demise of CLASS immediately touched off speculation about its impact on the federal budget. Although no premiums are likely to be collected, the program still counts as reducing the federal deficit by about $80 billion over the next 10 years. That's because of a rule that would have required workers to pay in for at least five years before they could collect any benefits.

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"The CLASS Act was a budget gimmick that might enhance the numbers on a Washington bureaucrat's spreadsheet but was destined to fail in the real world," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (KY).

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ATM Operators File Antitrust Suit against Visa and MasterCard

On October 12, a group of ATM operators filed a price-fixing lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard, alleging that the card companies? enforcement of uniform agreements with issuing banks to fix prices for ATM services is in violation of federal antitrust laws.�In the complaint, independent operators say they are bound by contract with Visa and MasterCard to charge inflated ATM fees for customers.�

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For example, the operators say that even when they are able to access cheaper competing networks for ATM card users ? and could and would charge lower fees as a result ? they are obligated under their contracts to charge the same high fee for all transactions.�They allege that Visa and MasterCard require operators to charge these high, fixed fees in order to keep smaller competing networks from gaining business. The plaintiffs operate more than 200,000 ATM machines across the U.S. and are seeking national class-action status.�

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Other News

• Representatives Call for Federal Antitrust Investigation Against Big Banks
  Rep. Peter Welch and four House members have called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether the fee strategies of the big banks violate federal antitrust laws.
• NACS Urges House Members to Oppose New Debit Card Swipe Fee Bill
  In response to a new bill circulating the House of Representatives that seeks to repeal debit card swipe fee reforms, NACS is asking members not to support H.R. 3156.
• U.S. Reps. Seek to Repeal Debit Card Swipe Fee Reforms
  Calling the Durbin Amendment ?price controls,? U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Bill Owens are supporting new legislation that seeks to repeal current debit card swipe fee reforms that took effect October 1.
• NACS Offers Tax Reform Suggestions
  Advocating for making American businesses more competitive, a coalition of 44 trade associations is urging lawmakers to follow three principles as they assess tax code reforms.
• Fat Taxes Proliferate Around the Globe
  From France to Denmark, countries are deciding what constitutes a healthy diet by adding taxes to ?unhealthy? foods.
• NACS Comments to FDA on Warning Letters and Multiple Violations
  The association also encourages the FDA to accept the We Card program as an ?approved? training program.

Content Subject: Government Relations

Formatted Article Date: October 17, 2011

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