Carmen Balber
Executive Director
Consumer Watchdog executive director Carmen Balber has been with the organization for overtwo decades. She spent four years directing the group’s Washington, D.C. office where she advocated for key health insurance market reforms that were ultimately enacted into law as part of the Affordable Care Act.
Balber is recognized as a leading expert on a wide range of personal insurance issues and has authored or co-authored numerous reports on the auto, health and medical malpractice insurance industries, and insurance rate regulation. Her recent advocacy focuses on the impacts of climate change and insurance industry accountability for rising prices and reduced access to insurance for homeowners and renters.
She also leads Consumer Watchdog’s advocacy to improve patient safety in California, including campaigns to win new access to justice for victims of medical negligence by updating the state’s cap on medical malpractice damages; winning a voice for injured consumers at the Medical Board of California; and legislation requiring doctors to check a patient’s prescription history before prescribing opioids and other drugs. In 2012, she managed the coalition effort to defeat Prop 33, a $17 million insurance industry initiative that would have raised rates on good drivers. She has appeared as a commentator on these topics on broadcasts and in publications across the country.
As an organizer with Consumer Watchdog, Balber ran campaigns to pass volunteer-qualified ballot measures enacting the nation’s strongest municipal conflict of interest protections in five cities across California. She also coordinated citizen organizing efforts in Consumer Watchdog’s successful volunteer lobbying effort to block a legislative utility bailout in Sacramento in 2001.
Before joining Consumer Watchdog, Balber learned the ropes at the Colorado and Washington PIRGs. She holds a B.A. in Politics from Pomona College in Claremont, California and is a graduate of UWC-USA in Montezuma, New Mexico, one of 17 secondary schools across the globe dedicated to making education a force for peace, sustainability and change by bringing together youth from a diversity of countries and cultures to live and learn. She is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe).
Articles by Carmen Balber
Insurance
Governor’s Proposal Targets Prop 103’s Public Rate Review that has Saved Homeowners, Drivers, Doctors $6 Billion on Insurance
A proposal by Gov Newsom would undercut independent public scrutiny of insurance rate increases and jeopardize Californians
May 29, 2024
Insurance
Commissioner Lara Gives State Farm Green Light to Reduce Wildfire Mitigation Discounts and Avoid Explanation of How Homeowners’ Wildfire Risk is Determined
Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara approved State Farm’s reduction of the discounts it offers homeowners for wildfire mitigation and freed…
May 20, 2024
Insurance
Consumer Alert: Commissioner Lara’s UN-FAIR Home Insurance Deal
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s deal with the insurance industry is a Bait and Switch on consumers - it won’t get a…
May 16, 2024
Insurance
New Consumer Alert Video Warns Insurance Commissioner’s Deal Won’t Get Homeowners Real Coverage
Scant “UNFAIR Plan” Policy is the Most Insurers Would Have to Sell Los Angeles, CA – In a consumer alert video released today…
May 16, 2024
Audio
KCBS-AM (Radio) – San Francisco, CA: Insurers Are Supposed To Give A Discount For Homeowners Doin Wildfire Mitigation Work
By Staff Reporters, KCBS-AM – San Francisco, CA Click below to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.
May 2, 2024
Accountability
KTVU-SF (FOX) – San Francisco, CA: Airline Refund Policy Change
Carmen Balber speaks to how if there’s a penalty for treating consumers badly, companies often shape up their actions.
May 2, 2024
In The Courtroom
Wildfire Mitigation Discounts Too Low, Insurance Companies Fail to Explain How They Rank Homeowners’ Wildfire Risk, Consumer Watchdog Challenges
Consumer Watchdog Challenged State Farm for failure to properly disclose or explain to consumers their wildfire risk classifications
May 1, 2024
In The News
KPBS Television – San Diego, CA: Insurer of Last Resort
Many California homeowners are hurting, they are facing big rate increases or the threat of nonrenewal from insurance company.
Apr 29, 2024
Audio
KPBS-FM (Radio) – San Diego, CA: Consumer Watchdog Wants More Concessions from Insurers to Protect Consumers from Unnecessary Rate Hikes
By Staff Reporters, KPBS-FM – San Diego, CA Click below to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.
Apr 24, 2024
Insurance
Commissioner Lara Proposes Minimal Oversight, Secrecy of Black-Box Wildfire Insurance Models
Proposed Regulation Will Raise Rates but Will Not Stop Home Insurance Companies’ Market Boycott, Says Consumer Watchdog Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner…
Apr 23, 2024
Insurance
Watchdog Renews Call on Insurance Commissioner Lara to Mandate Insurance Companies Disclose the Fossil Fuel Projects They Insure
Lara Rejected Petition from Over 60 Groups to Require Disclosure in 2019 Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara must hold insurance companies…
Apr 9, 2024
In The News
Politico: Spotlight
By Blanca Begert, POLITICO https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-climate/2024/03/28/california-and-the-feds-are-already-diverging-on-evs-00149685 GETTING PERSONAL: Put Consumer Watchdog and the Personal Insurance Federation of California in the same room, and…
Mar 29, 2024
In The News
KTXL-SAC (FOX) – Sacramento, CA: Addressing CA’s Insurance Crisis
Carmen Balber wants the legislature to require insurance companies provide coverage for homeowners who have taken steps to reduce fire risks and…
Mar 28, 2024
Healthcare
KPIX-SF (CBS) – San Francisco, CA: Susan Lieu – A Medical Negligance Story
Nearly 30 years ago, her mother died as a result of a plastic surgery malpractice case. She dealt with the trauma through…
Mar 28, 2024
Insurance
Consumers Who Harden Homes to Reduce Wildfire Risk Must Have a Right to Buy Insurance, Consumer Watchdog to Testify before Little Hoover Commission
Sacramento, CA – California must require insurance companies to sell home insurance to homeowners who protect their homes from wildfire in order to…
Mar 28, 2024
In The News
KTVU-SF (FOX) – San Francisco, CA: Home Insurance in California
Carmen Balber says what we need is a mandate that home insurers who want the privilege of selling home and auto insurance…
Mar 25, 2024
In The News
KABC-LA (ABC) – Los Angeles, CA: California’s Insurance Crisis
Consumer Watchdog has been urging for years now that California require insurance companies who want to sell home or auto insurance in California sell to everyone…
Mar 22, 2024