Emblem Health has notified all NY brokers that they will no longer pay commission as of 05/01/13. This is completely unethical and will have a drastic impact on our clients and the livelihood of all NY brokers. Because Emblem Health was denied a rate increase by the Department of Financial Services –DFS, they are taking action on the brokers that helped build their brand, and who service there policy holders. (See DFS statement below) With Healthcare reform to take effect in 2014, our knowledge and service is crucial in keeping our clients in compliance. This action needs to be stopped NOW! “Thus, while EmblemHealth, Inc. and HIPGNY have been profitable, their operating subsidiary, GHI, for some reason is not. In reviewing the reasons for this disparity, DFS has become increasingly concerned that Emblem’s overall management and its executive compensation practices have been a significant cause of GHI’s marginal financial condition. Moreover, DFS is concerned about the impact on the public of the rate increases proposed in the instant rate application. As a not-for-profit corporation, Emblem has a special duty to provide affordable health insurance to New Yorkers and to manage itself appropriately to make that possible. Poor management and compensation not related to both short and long-term performance can create improper incentives and have a deleterious impact on a company’s operations.”

Let's stop big money and interests from owning our legislators. Our Elected Officials are PUBLIC SERVANTS, and should behave as such. They should not vote against the common good of all the people in favor of giving special consideration (including tax breaks, reductions in fines, etc). If a Legislator receives significant donations (in excess of $50,000 from ANY person, Corporation, PAC, or Special Interest group, they SHALL NOT be eligible to vote on any legislation that pertains to the said person, Corporation, PAC, or Special Interest group. Legislators who are found to have done so should be stripped of their Elected office and any benefits of that office. Criminal Conviction should be considered if it is found that the Legislator voted against the wishes of his constituents.

A HUGE amount of charities give 15% or less to those they collect for. Some are even in the negative% area. I feel that this is called legal robbery. I would like to see a bill pass that makes sure that charities have to give at least 65% to those they collect for. Please.... let's make sure people are doing what's right and hold them accountable.

Every one who uses petroleum products.

Three years ago my sister was laid to rest due to a house fire caused by faulty wiring in the house,that was the first child my mother had ever lost and the first sibling I had ever lost and it was a pain I had never felt before in my life. Before the fire occurred the problem had been reported to the landlord several times and after the damage had been done neighbors and old residents of the house reported they also had electrical problems and was ignored by the landlord and nothing was done. Since then my mother and I have had to deal with more slumlords who flat out does not care about anybodies well being or living conditions in properties they own,all that matters is a money order before the fifth. Hard working tenants who pay their rent on time while maintaining the property as best as they can have to continuosly call and wait for problems that they can't or aren't obligated to fix to get fixed when some have infant children and disabled elderly living at the properties. Under the current Arkansas Landlord and Tenant laws the landlords are getting away with robbery and the tenants have to either take it or move on. If a tenant holds money from the landlord until they fix a leak in the roof because the leak could cause electrical damage,the tenant can be placed under arrest or asked to leave the premises. Thats not equal,I'm sure none of you or them would like to spend your money to live in a place thats half inhabitable either but thats what hard working Arkansans are being forced to do and something has to be done about it. Without the people there wouldn't be any neighborhoods to place the alert centers who main goal is to "Stop the Drug Dealer" when in alot of neighbor hoods you don't see any drug dealers but you do see slumlords taking money from people who barely making it as is. Tenants for Equal Accountability main priority is to get the current landlord and tenant laws revised,instead of the current laws standing up for the crooks collecting money for doing nothing,we need laws standing up for the people who work hard and don't have to worry about spending two or three nights in the cold because they heat went out and the Landlord say "You Gotta Wait". We want to live comfortable in our homes just like the Landlords/Slumlords are living comfortable in their homes and In order for that to happen New Landlord Responsibilities have to be enforced.

Health problems, medical bills, loss of pay due to time missed due to sickness caused by mold and mold spors in air

Honorable Members of the PA State House Judiciary Committee PA House Bill 683 was referred to your committee Feb. 12, 2013 PA House Bill 683 (HB683: Haluska, Metzgar, Barrar, M. K. Keller, Hess, Moul, Fleck, C. Harris And Murt, February 12, 2013), like similar legislation in other US states, is not well-thought out. It will limit whistle-blowing, and keep the public unaware of food safety problems, animal abuse and poor/dangerous working conditions on factory farms. It's benefit to our food safety and farm workers is unclear. Remember the 2008 investigation of a dairy cow slaughter plant in Chino, California? It prompted the largest meat recall in U.S. history, identified fraud on the federal government’s school lunch program, and resulted in criminal convictions. HB683 would criminalize only the workers who expose such crimes. HB683 would do nothing to protect We The People from the cruelty, contaminants, and fraud. Further, with the increase in gas drilling in PA, HB683 is doubly troubling: Line 9 on page 1 defines the proposed second and third degree felonies as those "Interfering with agricultural operations." But Lines 9-11 on page 3 too broadly define "Agricultural operations" as "Any public or private property where an agricultural activity or farming is conducted or takes place." This includes the sites of much of PA's gas drilling, storage and transfer activities. Citizen activism is an increasingly important tool for We The People to find out about gas-related crimes and pollution. HB683 would seemingly outlaw reporting on these threats to our air, water and dirt. Please voted NO on HB683. Thank you for your time.

Nothing gets done in Congress because the elected body maintains support politcally to the money not the PEOPLE's welfare. Money=Power whereas moral values and truth = doing what is right for America.

In December 2012 Amgen pleaded guilty to improper marketing of its anemia drug to cancer patients. They agreed to pay a fine of $762 million in a civil settlement and criminal fines. Amgen lobbyists had an idea to inject a $500 million tax credit into the Fiscal Cliff bill with the help of some Senators. There was no rationale in providing this huge tax credit other than politics as usual. The Fiscal Cliff bill passed and Amgen received a non-deserved $500 million tax credit.

Retired. Cancer survivor. Disabled. Single mother. Senior. And Wells Fargo is about to steal my home. My name is Bernetta Adolph, a retired employee of the City of San Francisco, and I’ve lived in my home for almost 20 years. My trouble with Wells Fargo started when I took out a loan against my house in order to ensure my only son could afford a good education. It turns out the loan to provide for my son’s future was designed to ruin my own. It was predatory, calculated to strip my equity and set me up for failure. When I tried to work with Wells to fix the loan, they offered a modification so small it didn’t make any difference. Then they started trying to take my house. The stress hastened my blindness and continues to aggravate my health problems. But I’m far from the only one to have suffered at the hands of Wells Fargo bankers. Here’s what I’ve found out: --Wells Fargo is foreclosing on more people in California than any other bank. [1] --Wells Fargo paid $175 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that it targeted African-American and Latino borrowers for high-cost loans. [2] --From 2008-2010 Wells Fargo received $17.9 Billion in tax subsidies from you and me. [3] These reasons plus stopping the theft of my home are why I’m joining with other members of the Home Defenders League and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment to take on Wells Fargo directly by demonstrating at their branches and headquarters all over the state on Wednesday, February 27. Not only that, but we’re also teaming up with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Occupy Homes MN, and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy to make the message as powerful as possible. Those groups are leading a huge day of action against Wells in Minneapolis the same time we’ll be taking them on in California. Here’s what we’re demanding: --Keep me in my home. --Deliver on promised relief through full implementation of AG settlement and other programs. --Broad implementation of loan modifications by resetting mortgages to fair market value. --Restore our stolen wealth by ending predatory practices, ending discriminatory lending and paying your fair share of taxes. Since his inauguration in January, I've joined with Home Defenders and ACCE members to push President Obama to use the first 100 days of his second term to finally hold Wall Street banks like Wells Fargo accountable for breaking our economy. Well, this week, we're taking that fight directly to Wall Street criminals themselves. They are the ones who stole our savings and our homes. It’s time for them to pay us back. Starting with Wells Fargo. [1] Based on statistics found in Foreclosure Radar, www.foreclosureradar.com [2] http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/July/12-dag-869.html [3] http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/2011/11/tax_dodger_wells_fargo.php#.USfd0zDWi3w

Wage theft affects millions of Americans across this country. From Blue collar workers to white collar executives. It is also a subject many want to ignore. Many of these employers like to cut corners competing and don't want to pay taxes. They also don't want to take financial responsibility and go down with the ship when they start having problems with their business. Oftentimes they need all the help they can get so they get their employees to invest into the company without the employees permission. They don't pay their employees on a regular basis. They continuously lie to their employees. Many of these employers belong in jail. I know because I was one of those employees. Make these employers pay because the employees shouldn't have too. It is just good business.

Verizon routinely steals the PAID-FOR data of its customers simply because they can't use their data without going over their allotment plan. For instance, I regularly must NOT use about 350 Megabytes of my PAID-FOR data at the end of the month, in order to avoid getting charged a $15 penalty for going even 1 kilobyte over my plan. This data disappears forever because Verizon does not rollover this unused data to the next month. This is made worse because Verizon's data reporting is delayed by over 12 hours, and a customer can only roughly estimate their actual data usage.