Isakson Denounces White House Comments Connecting Him To Terribly Flawed House Health Care Bill

‘This Is What Happens When the President and Members of Congress Don’t Read the Bills’

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today denounced comments made by President Obama and his spokesman regarding Isakson’s alleged connection to language contained in the House health care bill on “end-of-life counseling.”

Isakson vehemently opposes the House and Senate health care bills and he played no role in drafting language added to the House bill by House Democrats calling for the government to incentivize doctors by offering them money to conduct “end-of-life counseling” with Medicare patients every five years. Isakson also strongly opposed the House bill language calling for doctors to follow a government-mandated list of topics to discuss with patients during the counseling sessions.

By contrast, Isakson took a very different approach in July during the Senate HELP Committee hearings on the Senate version of the health care bill. Isakson’s amendment to the Senate bill says that anyone who participates in the long-term care benefit provided in the bill – if they so choose – may use that benefit to obtain assistance in formulating their own living will and durable power of attorney.

Isakson’s amendment, which was accepted unanimously by all Republicans and Democrats on the Senate HELP Committee, empowers the individual to make their own choices on these critical issues, rather than the government incentivizing doctors to conduct counseling on government-mandated topics. Isakson ultimately voted against the Senate health care bill.

“This is what happens when the President and members of Congress don’t read the bills. The White House and others are merely attempting to deflect attention from the intense negativity caused by their unpopular policies. I never consulted with the White House in this process and had no role whatsoever in the House Democrats’ bill. I categorically oppose the House bill and find it incredulous that the White House and others would use my amendment as a scapegoat for their misguided policies,” Isakson said. “My Senate amendment simply puts health care choices back in the hands of the individual and allows them to consider if they so choose a living will or durable power of attorney. The House provision is merely another ill-advised attempt at more government mandates, more government intrusion, and more government involvement in what should be an individual choice.”
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CCCS of Greater Atlanta Expanding to Aid Struggling Homeowners

PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta today announced it is now hiring housing counselors and customer service representatives for a new counseling office in the Cumberland/Galleria area in suburban Atlanta. The office is scheduled to open in December with more than 100 employees focused on foreclosure prevention.

Once the office opens, the agency will immediately begin providing housing counseling from offices at Interstate North Office Park, near the intersection of I-75 and I-285 in Cobb County. It will be the 44-year-old nonprofit's largest around-the-clock counseling operation. The agency is now hiring many of the 80 housing counselors and 20 phone contact staff who will work at the 26,000-square-foot facility.

"We needed a location that offered both a talented pool of workers and easy access for our employees to get to their jobs," said Suzanne Boas, president of CCCS. "Interstate North offers our employees great access by car and also has convenient mass transit options."

The new operation will increase the agency's overall counseling staff to 245. These counselors are the frontline support for the agency's mission to help people nationwide struggling to avoid foreclosure. The agency estimates its housing counselors will conduct more than 60,000 counseling sessions in 2008, offering expertise in foreclosure prevention, reverse mortgages and resolving credit card debt for homeowners.

CCCS of Greater Atlanta recently selected Interstate North after reviewing several potential office locations along I-75 north of Atlanta. The agency is headquartered in downtown Atlanta and also operates a large counseling center in Duluth to provide telephone and Internet counseling across the country to people worried about debt.

The agency's expansion to Cobb County is made possible by a $2 million grant earlier this year from the Ford Foundation. In addition to providing resources for 80 new housing counselors, the grant also allows CCCS to expand the rollout of a new software platform that lets credit counselors eliminate lengthy delays faced by homeowners in urgent need of modified mortgages.

Housing counselors at the Interstate North facility will join the agency's other foreclosure prevention specialists answering calls from the HOPE hotline, a national toll-free service offered by the Housing Preservation Foundation. Any person in the United States who needs free counseling to avoid foreclosure can call the number 24 hours day. The telephone number is 1-888-995-HOPE.

"Preserving homeownership is one of our agency's highest priorities, and counselors at this new facility will help save the homes of many Americans," Boas said.

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Two-Thirds of Struggling Homeowners Meet Key Criteria for Housing Bill Relief, According to Survey by CCCS of Greater Atlanta

PRNewswire/ -- Almost two-thirds of homeowners who called Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta for foreclosure prevention counseling in recent months appear to meet the threshold requirements for relief under the new federal housing bill that took effect Oct. 1, according to a recent survey of those homeowners.

Of 591 people surveyed in late September, 381 of them, or 64.6 percent, said they met five key eligibility criteria for the mortgage refinancing program.

On July 30, President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The law created a new program called Hope for Homeowners intended to help families save their homes from foreclosure. Mortgage lenders participating in the program can allow "at risk" borrowers to refinance their current mortgage into a new fixed-rate loan insured by the FHA. Lenders' participation in the program is voluntary.

"Our survey results indicate this new FHA program holds the potential to help a large number of Americans struggling to pay their mortgage," said Suzanne Boas, president of CCCS of Greater Atlanta. "Not everyone will be able to meet the terms. But if someone meets the basic criteria laid out in the housing bill, it would be worth a phone call to their lender to ask about the FHA program."

Homeowners must meet several requirements to be considered for the program. People who called CCCS of Greater Atlanta in July and August trying to avoid foreclosure were surveyed about these requirements by email from Sept. 19-23.

To be counted among the 64.6 percent of survey takers who appear to meet the threshold criteria, people needed to indicate that they live in the home with the problem mortgage; their mortgage was originated before January 2008; they didn't have an existing home equity line or other second mortgage; they did not own another home and they spend at least 31 percent of their gross monthly income on mortgage debt.

From those surveyed, the top challenge to participation in the FHA program is paying off a home equity loan or second mortgage. Thirty-five percent of respondents reported that their home secures more than one loan.

A second mortgage or home equity loan must be paid before a homeowner can qualify for the refinance program. It is possible to pay off the second mortgage through proceeds from the new FHA loan. That could be difficult if the first and second mortgage are held by different lenders because only the primary loan qualifies for the FHA program.

Also, nearly 20 percent of respondents say they don't spend at least 31 percent of their gross monthly income on their mortgage -- a threshold required by the FHA refinance program.

Borrowers who qualify for the FHA program are responsible for paying loan origination fees, as well as an insurance premium to FHA equal to 1.5 percent of the principal annually.

There are several other conditions:

-- The borrower must certify there was no misrepresentation in their application for the existing loan.

-- The borrower must agree to share both initial equity and future appreciation with The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD).

-- The equity sharing agreement provides that if the house is sold within the first year, 100 percent of the initial equity (generally 10 percent of the value of the property at origination) will go to FHA. After 1 year, FHA is entitled to 90 percent of the initial equity. The percentage keeps dropping in 10 percent increments to 50 percent after the fifth year, where it stays.

-- In addition to the initial equity which is a fixed amount, 50 percent of any future appreciation of the property must be paid to HUD when the property is sold.

-- The FHA loan will be a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and may not exceed 90 percent of the current appraised value of the property. An additional 3 percent mortgage insurance premium will be financed in the mortgage making the initial loan to value 87 percent.

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2008 Housing Counseling Demand Soars 184 Percent at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta

PRNewswire/ -- More than 30,000 Americans turned to Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta for housing counseling in the first half of 2008, nearly equaling the agency's total number of housing clients for all of 2007.

The increase in families seeking the nonprofit agency's help tracks the deepening of a national mortgage crisis that initially affected mostly low-income borrowers, but is now spreading to people with higher household incomes. For the first time in the 44-year history of CCCS of Greater Atlanta, the average household income of clients seeking housing counseling exceeded $40,000.

In addition to a 184 percent jump in new housing counseling sessions in the first six months of 2008 compared to last year, the agency helped many more people overall in each area of service:

-- Total counseling sessions conducted in person, by phone and over the Internet, increased from 120,000 in the first half of 2007 to 170,641 in the same period this year, an increase of more than 41 percent.

-- Bankruptcy counseling sessions increased from 79,417 in the first half of 2007 to 100,789 in the same period this year, an increase of 26.9 percent.

-- Budget and debt counseling sessions increased from 29,544 in the first half of 2007 to 38,837 in the same period this year, an increase of 31.5 percent.

"Demand for our counseling services is rising significantly as people try to avoid foreclosure and bankruptcy, as well as cope with rising gasoline and food costs," said Suzanne Boas, president of CCCS of Greater Atlanta. "Our agency will add at least 80 new housing counselors in the second half of this year to continue to help people avoid foreclosure and meet other financial needs."

The hiring of 80 new housing counselors and plans to open a new metro Atlanta counseling center are the result of a $2 million grant made in June by the Ford Foundation. The grant will support the agency's expansion of a pilot test of a new software platform that lets credit counselors eliminate lengthy delays faced by homeowners in urgent need of modified mortgages.

Approximately three-fourths of housing counseling sessions during the first half of 2008 involved individuals seeking help to avoid foreclosure of their home. The Atlanta-based agency is one of the nation's leading nonprofit counseling agencies helping people seek solutions to foreclosure. It provides counseling to homeowners in all 50 states 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through a 24-hour hotline, 1-888-995-HOPE.

The rise in people seeking CCCS of Greater Atlanta bankruptcy counseling follows an increase in the country's bankruptcy rate. Federal bankruptcy law requires individuals to complete credit counseling before they can file for bankruptcy. Approximately 20 percent of all of Americans who file for bankruptcy seek counseling help from CCCS of Greater Atlanta.

Budget and debt counseling primarily serves individuals struggling with credit card, medical and other unsecured debt. These people often seek help to pay their creditors. The agency tries to work out debt management plans for people who cannot make their minimum payments.