Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

Because Congress did not act by July 1, subsidized student loan interest rates doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. And student debt in the United States already totals $1.1 trillion, more than credit card debt. 

Today, the Senate will vote on the Keep Student Loans Affordable Act, which would bring the interest rate back down to 3.4 percent for one more year while Congress can consider a long-term solution. The alternative proposal would be more permanent, but would tie the student loan interest rate to the market, with no cap. That may reduce the deficit, but on the backs of needy students!

Starting on Monday, July 1st, Kentucky lowered the income eligibility limit for child care assistance from 150 percent to 100 percent of the federal poverty level. As these drastic cuts go into effect, 8,700 families with 14,300 children are estimated to lose help in paying for child care. The state had already stopped accepting new families into the program earlier this year. Paying for safe, much less high-quality, child care on their limited incomes will be an extraordinary challenge for these families who have lost or been denied help. Some parents will have no choice but to resort to less expensive, potentially less stable child care arrangements. Without reliable child care, low-income parent will have greater difficulties holding onto their jobs.

Catherine Kaiser, a Louisville parent interviewed by WFPL News, fears what she calls the “domino effect” that could result from the child care cuts. “When you lose your assistance program, you lose your job; when you lose your job, you lose your income. When you lose your income, you’ve lost all hope,” she said.

Yesterday's surprise announcement that the Obama Administration is postponing implementation of the health reform law's requirement that firms with more than 50 workers provide affordable, comprehensive health insurance or pay a small penalty set off a flurry of commentary and speculation. Much of this reaction focused on how the decision will affect larger employers and their workers — that is, very little — and others weighed in on the political implications of this move. The biggest impact on large employers is if they do not provide the requisite health insurance they will not have to pay the penalty for one more year. But little analysis and commentary considered what this decision means for low-wage workers' access to health insurance exchanges, nor the outreach and education challenges it creates. 

With or without this postponement, beginning January 1, many workers whose employers do not offer coverage, or whose employer offers coverage that does not meet minimum standards for premium affordability and sufficient benefits, will qualify for help with premiums and cost-sharing for coverage they purchase in the health insurance exchange operating in their state. These marketplaces will offer participants a choice among fully-vetted health plans that meet state and federal standards. Workers with good employer-sponsored health insurance won't be able to receive subsidies to purchase coverage in the exchange, but those workers without access to good employer-sponsored coverage, or coverage that exceeds 9.5 percent of their incomes, will qualify for this help. 

Today, low-wage workers are more likely to pay a larger share of the premium for employer-sponsored coverage than workers with higher earnings.