Word: costly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Banks began charging interchange fees in the 1960s to cover the cost of processing credit-card transactions. "But even as technology has dropped that cost dramatically, banks and credit-card companies have pushed swipe fees higher and higher, turning it into a cash cow," the report notes. "For many businesses, swipe fees are now their single highest non-labor operating cost...
...merchants contend that if interchange fees are lowered, they would pass on the cost savings to consumers through lower prices for goods - at least that's the theory...
...Would "gold-plated" Cadillac plans be taxed? Yes, although technically insurers would be the ones taxed. Beginning in 2013, they would pay a 35% excise tax on any plans they sell that cost more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families. But even though insurers would be paying, they would almost certainly pass along this extra cost to consumers. Nearly all of these so-called Cadillac plans are sold through employer-based coverage, often to union workers and municipal employees...
...make employer-based coverage more transparent, the bill would also require that W-2 forms list the total cost of premiums paid by employers...
Educational institutions currently have two ways to offer federal loans to students. In the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL, pronounced "fell") program, the government pays subsidies to banks and lenders to dole out money to borrowers and reimburses companies up to 97% of the cost of any loan that is not paid back. The second way is the direct-loan program, created in 1993 as an alternate option, in which the government cuts out the middle man, lends money directly and gets all the profits. If the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) passes both houses of Congress...