Consumer options and medical debt, Korean-American rapper Dumbfoundead on his new song "Safe", the sister of Grim Sleeper's youngest victim on case's verdict.
American consumers and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad debt
John Oliver, the host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, created a buzz on social media Sunday after a stunt involving the purchase of outstanding medical debt.
Oliver spent the bulk of his show railing against debt collection in America — specifically, medical debt.
Then, just for the show, he created a fake debt collection company, bought $15 million worth of debt for pennies-on-the-dollar and forgave it on television.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUAntt1z2c
It's estimated that 20 percent or over 42 million Americans are living with medical debt. Many don't know they're past due until they get a call from a collector.
So what rights do patients have when dealing with collections agencies?
Take Two put that question to consumer protection attorney Bob Brennan.
(Answers have been edited for clarity.)
You heard those numbers I just mentioned about medical debt in America. Those were from a 2014 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Who are the people facing medical debt and how big of a problem is this?
It’s largely the people who are uninsured or underinsured. Even with Obamacare, there is a lot of procedures which are not covered or only partially covered. That’s one scenario. The second one that people run into is just confusion in the billing and sometimes stuff is not properly covered or submitted to insurance. Let’s say you go to a doctor’s visit, or you go to the emergency room, or you go to urgent care; most consumers do not know that you are being billed potentially by three, four, or five separate entities when you visit. It’s very much a la carte these days in terms of charging. Suddenly, people have a debt that they did not realize that they thought was covered — that happens all the time.
What is a collections company and who are people buying the debt?
What you’ve got is investors, and you’ve got investors at all levels. You have billion dollar hedge funds, and you have people who are literally investing out of their garage. It’s not hard to buy a debt portfolio. John Oliver demonstrated it. Let’s say you have $25,000; you could buy as much as $2.5 million to $5 million dollars worth of debt. Any one of your listeners within the next 90 minutes could own a debt portfolio. After it gets passed three or four times down the chain, then you’re dealing with a bunch of people who are literally operating out of the garage and buying debt portfolios.
How far do collection companies go to get the money?
I have personal friends who own collection agencies, and they're ethical, and they care about abiding by the law. But beyond that, I could tell you about one case we handled a couple of years ago:
The debt collector called a family’s home. It was the father’s debt, and the only person that was home at the time was the nine or ten-year-old son. So the debt collector told the son that he had to find his dad’s wallet and give the debt collector the credit card information or the father was going to go to jail. And so this kid was freaked out and — of course — gave the credit card information to the debt collector.
The best way to answer that collection is what they’re allowed to do and what they’re not allowed to do:
- Collectors are supposed to contact you in writing
- Collectors must give you the opportunity to validate the debt
- Collectors are allowed to contact you by phone
- Collectors are allowed to write you letters
- Collectors are allowed to advise you of what may happen if you don’t pay the debt
- Collectors are allowed contact your employer, but only to find out location information
- Once a debt collector goes to court and obtains a judgment against you, then they can contact your employer about garnishing your wages
- Consumers are entitled to the underlying documentation showing why the debt is owed and the sum of the debt
- Consumers are allowed to request that all contact from a collector be done in writing
Press the blue play button above to hear more about your rights as a consumer, and to hear what the California statute of limitations says about debt.
A hairstylist's tips for dads daunted by doing hair
For decades, parenting roles were broken down by gender.
Dads play sports with the kids, moms make lunches. Dads teach kids how to ride a bike, moms do the laundry. And so on and so forth.
Luckily we've moved well beyond these stereotypes. And yet, there are still some parenting tasks that seem daunting. For dads, doing hair is often a big one.
But now, just in time for Father's Day, there's a new guidebook called "The Dean's List of Daddy Do's."
Author and professional hairstylist Dean Banowetz joined Take Two to offer his tips for dads who are unsure about their hairstyling skills.
To listen to the full interview, click the blue player above.
New music from BADBADNOTGOOD, Kaytranada and The Avalanches
Each week our experts joins us to talk about what's new in music on Tuesday Reviewsday. This week Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com joins A Martinez with his top picks.
Artist: Kaytranada
Album: "99.9%"
Song: "Glowed Up," "Bullets"
Artist: BADBADNOTGOOD
Album: "IV"
Song: "In Your Eyes," "IV"
Artist: The Avalanches
Album: "Wildflower"
Song: "Frankie Sinatra"
To hear the entire conversation click on the link embedded at the top of this post.
Koreatown rapper Dumbfoundead tackles whitewashing in films
Korean-American rapper Jonathan Park, otherwise known by his stage name Dumbfoundead, recently released a video for his new single “Safe.”
Nothing out of the ordinary there, except this video was different: it went viral. In it he confronts Asian stereotypes and addresses whitewashing in Hollywood culture.
You can see him recast himself in lead roles from classic movies such as "Pulp Fiction" and "Indiana Jones."
This has been an ongoing issue in the film industry and has sparked similar responses, like that of actor John Cho. The actor created his own social movement called #StarringJohnCho, a campaign that shows audiences what Hollywood would look like with an Asian-American actor playing a lead role.
Interview highlights:
On the video going viral:
"When we discussed the concept of it, I knew it was going to grab some attention. But I didn't think it was going to get this much love, especially from the film blog world, the cultural blogs because obviously it's a music video first of all. It's a rap song, too. But yeah, just the way it kind of reached out all over from tech blogs to film blogs, cultural blogs, people were really drawn to it. And the Asian-American community like really supported it crazy. I had all these Asian-American actors that I recognize from different films and TV shows retweeting it and it was crazy to see that."
Reaction from Asian-American community:
"I think they related to it and they kind of felt that frustration. I can tell when they retweeted it, they wrote comments like 'Yes, this is exactly how we've been feeling for years.' I think this is a topic that's kind of been going on for years. It's nothing new. It's just that that conversation has kind of been brought back to the light. And this was just kind of like my addition to the conversation and I think the song was kind of like the tipping point of that."
On being a Korean rapper, a Korean-American rapper or a rapper who's Korean:
"I think [the media] could've been a little more specific about specifying Korean-American, at least, because that's what I am. The main reason I wanted them to specify like Korean-American, most importantly for me, is that it's two different experiences. The Asian experience compared to the Asian-American experience. That gets confused a lot, I think, in the media, too. And the artists, too, because hip-hop in Asia is blowing up. There's a lot of rappers coming out of there, but it's completely two different things. I like to really talk about the Asian-American experience in my music, and we're the ones that are coming up, doing our thing, and kind of having to share these stories or really answer to a lot of things that get brought up about the experience in America so I always want to specify that. You know, that it's the Asian-American experience."
'What you sow, you reap': Sister of Grim Sleeper victim responds to death sentence
After nearly three decades, the Grim Sleeper case came to a close Monday.
A jury handed down the death penalty to Lonnie Franklin, Jr. Franklin was convicted last month in the murders of 10 women in South Los Angeles dating back to the 1980s, and one attempted murder.
Princess Berthomieux is believed to be the youngest victim in the case. She was killed when she was 15 years old. At 3 years old, Berthomieux joined Samara Herard's family as a foster child in Claremont. Though Herard was 15 at the time, she said she would help Berthomieux with things like getting ready for school in the morning. Their connection sometimes felt maternal, Herard said.
But the death of Herard's own mother led Berthomieux to return to the foster care system. Berthomieux was found dead in 2002.
Herard has been waiting a long time for this decision. She spoke to Take Two's Josie Huang to remember her foster sister, and share her thoughts on the jury's decision.
Interview highlights
On what her sister was like as a child:
"My sister was a very sweet girl with an unfortunate troubled past as a very young child. At the age of 3 she came to our home after being one of the most severely abused children in LA's history at that time. [She was] really sweet though, we really sheltered her, we protected her. I mean, she went to private school, she was a wonderful child."
What ran through her mind when she found out Berthomieux had been murdered at age 15:
"The first thing is, I found out she was dead maybe about two years after she had died. And when my father told me, I was devastated. He didn't tell me she was murdered. And that was bizarre because, nothing made sense... [I found out she was murdered] when he [Lonnie Franklin Jr.] was arrested. That was, I think, one of the most devastating things I've ever experienced in my life."
On closure, and her reaction to Lonnie Franklin, Jr.'s fate:
"Well the first closure was the guilty [verdict]. That's the most important closure. Because that says, 'You've done this thing. And there's no question about it.' The sentencing, that didn't move me as much. I mean, I'm glad he'll never hurt anyone else the way he hurt my sister, and he'll never have the opportunity to hurt other families and create more victims... So, he'll never make another victim, he'll never have that opportunity. I believe that justice is served, and I believe what you sow, you reap."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Local Black Lives Matter activist sentenced to 3 months in jail
Last week we reported on the case of 28-year-old Black Lives Matter activist Jasmine Richards. She was convicted of attempting to unlawfully remove a suspect from police custody ... a statute identified as California Penal Code number 405-A.
It stems from an incident last year where Richards tried to intercede in the arrest of another young woman. Richards had been attending a nearby, but unrelated, Black Lives Matter protest.
What has generated intense interest is that the law was formerly known in California law as "lynching." This morning, Richards was in the Pasadena Superior Courthouse for sentencing, and we spoke to Eddie Rivera, community editor with the Pasadena News Now. He began by laying out the sentence, handed down by Judge Elaine Lu.
What are the chances of an effort to recall the judge in the Stanford rape case?
A California judge's sentencing decision in a rape case at Stanford University has caused an outcry, and now a recall effort.
Brock Turner, a 20-year-old former Stanford swimmer, was convicted on three counts of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.
The maximum sentence guideline for that conviction is 14 years in state prison, though the prosecutor in the case had asked for six years.
But Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to just six months in county jail.
The case made headlines when the victim, an unnamed 23-year-old woman, released to BuzzFeed News a letter she wrote and read aloud in court last week.
Now, several petitions and an effort to recall Judge Persky over his sentencing decision are underway.
BuzzFeed News reporter Stephanie M. Lee and Loyola Law School professor
joined Take Two to discuss the status of the recall effort and its prospects for success.
To listen to the full interview, click the blue player above.
School Climate Measurement: The less visible parts of education
When you think about measuring a school's effectiveness you usually think of test scores, cognitive levels, all that standard operating procedure.
But what about a student's happiness? Or how their temperament while at school?
A new program for California's urban schools aims to take a look at the less visible factors of education.
It's called "School Climate Measurement." It's being spearheaded by California Office to Reform Education and could be approved for the entire state to use by the end of the year.
For more on this, Take Two's A Martinez spoke to Noah Bookman, Chief Accountability Officer at CORE.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.