Finally! Democrats should have made this happen last year or earlier *Easier to cancel subscriptions*

[Fanatical Meat]

Now they’ll have to actually talk about it. This is good news for everyone who has ever had any kind of subscription.
Basically places that sell subscriptions need to have a click to cancel option. No chats or phone calls or whatever else.
Simple good stuff that will help everyone

Federal Trade Commission Announces Final “Click-to-Cancel” Rule Making It Easier for Consumers to End Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a

www.ftc.gov

 

[Jaskalas]

Basically places that sell subscriptions need to have a click to cancel option. No chats or phone calls or whatever else.

“Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription,” said Commission Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. Nobody should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want.”

WTF?
That kind of scam / predation must be made illegal.

 

[brycejones]

Sorry this is a major question the FTC is not allowed to answer. Only congress in their infinite wisdom may impose any kind of new regulation on any business.

/scrotus


lawsuit incoming

 

[brycejones]

WTF?
That kind of scam / predation must be made illegal.

Why do you hate capitalism? Fucking commie

 

[hal2kilo]

WTF?
That kind of scam / predation must be made illegal.

Ah, these guys these days are wimps compared to trying to cancel an AOL subscription back in the day.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I cannot wait until I hear a Fox News spin on why this is a bad thing for the typical person.

Gym memberships are included on the list

Also this will be deflationary, businesses like Sirius that play the low rate game that inflates on year two, three and beyond will lose the option to require people call to cancel thus they will need to make their billing far more stable and transparent.

 

[Zorba]

WTF?
That kind of scam / predation must be made illegal.

This is basically the model of car washes. Sell a cheap intro monthly membership and make it impossible to cancel.

 

[Zorba]

I cannot wait until I hear a Fox News spin on why this is a bad thing for the typical person.

Gym memberships are included on the list

Also this will be deflationary, businesses like Sirius that play the low rate game that inflates on year two, three and beyond will lose the option to require people call to cancel thus they will need to make their billing far more stable and transparent.

NYT and WaPo make it very easy to cancel and still give you good offers to stay.

 

[BoomerD]

I cannot wait until I hear a Fox News spin on why this is a bad thing for the typical person.

Gym memberships are included on the list

Also this will be deflationary, businesses like Sirius that play the low rate game that inflates on year two, three and beyond will lose the option to require people call to cancel thus they will need to make their billing far more stable and transparent.

When my annual SiriusXM subscription ends, I simply call them. I'm going on year 5 with this vehicle, and have been a SiriusXM subscriber for about 10 years. Yes, the price might go up a bit, but no where nearly as bad as the default charge. (I think my cost for the SiriusXM Platinum plan went from $120 including "royalty fees" and taxes to $132. Not a horrible increase.)

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Now they’ll have to actually talk about it. This is good news for everyone who has ever had any kind of subscription.
Basically places that sell subscriptions need to have a click to cancel option. No chats or phone calls or whatever else.
Simple good stuff that will help everyone

Federal Trade Commission Announces Final “Click-to-Cancel” Rule Making It Easier for Consumers to End Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a

www.ftc.gov

What the fuck does it even matter? They capped out of pocket prescription drug costs at $2000 a year for people on Medicare but they don't even run on it, and instead run that oh so successful 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign of Trump is a pig. They should be screaming about that price cap from the rooftops at the demographic that votes in the highest numbers but they don't. They're going to lose to Trump while they have a clear as day winning hand: e.g., being able to campaign on saving seniors from bankruptcy due to prescription drug price gouging when Trump will obviously overturn that and Trump's literally defunding Social Security and running in 2020 on making it permanent which would 100% kill Social Security.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

When my annual SiriusXM subscription ends, I simply call them. I'm going on year 5 with this vehicle, and have been a SiriusXM subscriber for about 10 years. Yes, the price might go up a bit, but no where nearly as bad as the default charge. (I think my cost for the SiriusXM Platinum plan went from $120 including "royalty fees" and taxes to $132. Not a horrible increase.)

I have worked at places that I suspect had a similar high pressure set up to meet sales goals and retention goals, I suspect Sirius is one of those places.
I found frequently that post call additional services would be added without those additional services being clearly explained. For example the last year I had Sirius my bill went to close to $30 per month because a radio that I no longer had was activated as a second radio and a streaming account which basically meant when promo ended I was paying for two streaming account which I didn’t request and an extra radio.
Too much hassle and typically shitty people to work for engage in practices like that, they literally design the system to you forget and cram as much billing into it as possible.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

What the fuck does it even matter? They capped out of pocket prescription drug costs at $2000 a year for people on Medicare but they don't even run on it, and instead run that oh so successful 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign of Trump is a pig. They should be screaming about that price cap from the rooftops at the demographic that votes in the highest numbers but they don't. They're going to lose to Trump while they have a clear as day winning hand: e.g., being able to campaign on saving seniors from bankruptcy due to prescription drug price gouging when Trump will obviously overturn that and Trump's literally defunding Social Security and running in 2020 on making it permanent which would 100% kill Social Security.

It caused a bunch of companies to exit some markets entirely. It caused others to dramatically raise premiums and/or cut other benefits and raise deductibles for other services.

My plan for example raised my portion of of ER visits by around $50, ambulance transports by $75 and hospital stays by $50 per day.

Some also cut agent retention commissions.

Health companies will not take cuts. They'll get their money one way or another.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

It caused a bunch of companies to exit some markets entirely. It caused others to dramatically raise premiums and/or cut other benefits and raise deductibles for other services.

My plan for example raised my portion of of ER visits by around $50, ambulance transports by $75 and hospital stays by $50 per day.

Some also cut agent retention commissions.

Health companies will not take cuts. They'll get their money one way or another.

LOL you bought into the Medicare Advantage scam. LOL simping for scumbag insurance companies.

 

[brycejones]

It caused a bunch of companies to exit some markets entirely. It caused others to dramatically raise premiums and/or cut other benefits and raise deductibles for other services.

My plan for example raised my portion of of ER visits by around $50, ambulance transports by $75 and hospital stays by $50 per day.

Some also cut agent retention commissions.

Health companies will not take cuts. They'll get their money one way or another.

Medicare "advantage" plan?

 

[Thump553]

Blaming the Dems for delay in this matter totally ignores the way our government is structured-both by statute and (perhaps more importantly) by the current Supreme Court's highly byzantine construction of the powers that administrative agencies have. Simply put agencies have to follow very specific procedures in adopting rules, procedures that require a certain period of notice of proposed rules, allowing a period of public input and finally subject to court challenges. It frequently takes years to make minor simple changes like this, especially where (like here) there are well-heeled interests that will fight the proposed change, if for nothing else than to delay it's implementation.

That said, this is an excellent new rule and one that is sorely needed. Personally I wish they went one step further and required the merchant to give XX days notice of an upcoming auto-renewal. Over the past year I've been paring down my subscriptions (especially streaming services and apps) and it pretty clear to me that without such a regulation the vast majority of vendors will make it as difficult as possible to cancel. It seems like just about everything I've (easily) signed up for requires, at a minimum, an email to customer support and following up on that to make sure they actually do what you want.

Now if only they could get that jackass out that Trump put in charge of destroying the Post Office-a constitutionally mandated service the government must provide.

 

[Greenman]

LOL you bought into the Medicare Advantage scam. LOL simping for scumbag insurance companies.

What issues do you have with advantage plans?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

They fully paid for well over $100,000 in medical bills for a ten day hospital stint and have paid me a couple of thousand dollars for 'over the counter' items, groceries and utilities. They've paid 100% of my prescriptions.

I've paid them nothing in premiums.

I'd say that's an Advantage I can live with.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

What issues do you have with advantage plans?

The insurance companies loot peoples' Medicare benefits to give them a shitty HMO in return.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

They fully paid for well over $100,000 in medical bills for a ten day hospital stint and have paid me a couple of thousand dollars for 'over the counter' items, groceries and utilities. They've paid 100% of my prescriptions.

I've paid them nothing in premiums.

I'd say that's an Advantage I can live with.

Wow did you ever strike gold to not get stuck with someone out of network your private insurance wouldn't pay. Should have bought a lottery ticket upon checking out, you won't have that kind of luck again.

 

[fskimospy]

What issues do you have with advantage plans?

The main issue is Medicare advantage plans are less efficient than regular Medicare. They aren't a ton less efficient but they still cost more despite efforts to bring their costs back in line with traditional Medicare, and that cost difference appears to be continuing to grow. It's also prone to fraud by insurance companies, most of whom are currently facing federal fraud lawsuits over their MA practice.

It's not terrible, but it is a waste of money for no good reason.

 

[Greenman]

The insurance companies loot peoples' Medicare benefits to give them a shitty HMO in return.

That's fine as a general industry opinion, but not particularly informative. I've been in an advantage PPO for just short of two years and so far I'm very happy with it. The coverage, service, and deductibles are far and away better than the insurance plan that cost me $2000 a month before I was eligible for Medicare.
I did a comparison before I joined the advantage plan and it netted me better benefits at the same cost. So far I haven't seen a down side to the plan, but if there is a benefit to dumping it I'd do it this afternoon.

 

[Greenman]

The main issue is Medicare advantage plans are less efficient than regular Medicare. They aren't a ton less efficient but they still cost more despite efforts to bring their costs back in line with traditional Medicare, and that cost difference appears to be continuing to grow. It's also prone to fraud by insurance companies, most of whom are currently facing federal fraud lawsuits over their MA practice.

It's not terrible, but it is a waste of money for no good reason.

Clearly I'm missing part of the equation. The advantage plan gives me everything Medicare does, plus $2k dental coverage, dirt cheap prescription's, $1k yearly allowance for over the counter medicine, $1k yearly hearing aid allowance. I'm pretty sure there is an allowance for glasses as well. I get more for no added cost. How is this a bad thing?

 

[fskimospy]

Clearly I'm missing part of the equation. The advantage plan gives me everything Medicare does, plus $2k dental coverage, dirt cheap prescription's, $1k yearly allowance for over the counter medicine, $1k yearly hearing aid allowance. I'm pretty sure there is an allowance for glasses as well. I get more for no added cost. How is this a bad thing?

The federal government is picking up the additional expenses.

You can read more about it here: https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-...icares-solvency-and-affordability-challenges/

 

[VashHT]

Comcast is especially annoying for this, I remember when I was trying to cancel the TV part of my plan one customer rep just straight up hung up on me. On top of that, the other guy I talked to was asking me stupid shit like "What if your friends come over and want to watch TV?" in a pathetic attempt to get me to keep it.

 

[Greenman]

The federal government is picking up the additional expenses.

You can read more about it here: https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-...icares-solvency-and-affordability-challenges/

Good read, thanks.
It appears to me that Medicare needs to alter it's payment adjustments, though paying a bit more for plans that get 5 star ratings doesn't seem out of line to me. Regardless of that, it's still done as an open bid and Medicare decides what the criteria and adjustments will be. The issue is on the Medicare side, not the PPO or HMO.

My experience in government contracting is that it's often far to convoluted. Back in the late 90's I won a million dollar project by exploiting an undefined assumption in the requirements, I was by far the highest bid. The funny part of that story was at the bid opening, the fellow reading the bids read mine and said "this is bullshit". I still got the job.