Insurance
Health reform redux
For someone who has been talking for two decades about the need for universal health care, few words come to me easily…
Mar 22, 2010Consumer Watchdog
Providing an effective voice for American consumers in an era when special interests dominate public discourse, government and politics. Non-partisan.
Articles by Consumer Watchdog
Privacy
Google China: Search Engine’s Stand Against Censorship Welcomed By Campaigners
Google's decision to stop filtering search results hailed as triumph for internet freedom and a boost to the people for China Consumer…
Mar 22, 2010
Privacy
Bankers love you
Check out this hilarious and too-truthful Huffington Post from Heather Booth, director of Americans for Financial Reform, on this week's Capitol Hill…
Mar 19, 2010
Privacy
How I got groped by Facebook
I’m not taking an axe to my computer or anything, but every day I am more and more disturbed by the infinite…
Mar 19, 2010Consumer Watchdog To Insurance Commissioner: Don’t Let Blue Cross Get Away With Phony Data On Premium Increases
Santa Monica, CA – In a letter to California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, Consumer Watchdog said internal communications of Anthem Blue Cross…
Mar 19, 2010
Insurance
Consumer Protection Agency Seeks Its First Home
The question of where to house a proposed new consumer protection agency has garnered at least as much attention as whether there…
Mar 19, 2010
Insurance
Group Seeks Documents From Anthem Blue Cross Inquiry
Consumer Watchdog also asks California insurance chief Steve Poizner for public hearings on the healthcare firm's rate hike plan. Consumer Watchdog filed…
Mar 19, 2010
Privacy
What is Google hiding?
Thousands of pages of documents were unsealed in U.S. Court in New York Thursday in the $1 billion copyright infringement suit filed…
Mar 19, 2010
Privacy
Signs Google is worried about AdMob deal
Internet giant Google appears to be concerned that its proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob is...
Mar 18, 2010
Energy
Whitman’s Promise of a Blind Trust for Her Assets May Be Impossible to Achieve Quickly
The billionaire GOP candidate has vast holdings spread across hedge funds and venture capital groups. The investments may bind her in long-term…
Mar 18, 2010
Privacy
Stem Cell Agency Draws Capitol Scrutiny – Again
Lawmakers -- again -- are questioning the operations and culture of the state's stem cell program, which was created by voters nearly…
Mar 18, 2010
Insurance
Prop 17 Discourages Going Car-Free
“Anyone who has used car sharing (or for that matter rental cars) as their means of transportation would almost certainly not be…
Mar 18, 2010
Insurance
Insurer’s new business plan for ‘after reform’: Kill traditional Medicare
America's largest health insurance and services conglomerate thinks a health reform bill is likely to pass. And it has a plan already…
Mar 18, 2010
Privacy
FTC commissioner blasts Google and Facebook
Outgoing Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour blasted Google and Facebook on Wednesday for insufficient concern about consumers' privacy. Harbour,...
Mar 17, 2010
Privacy
“Google HomeView” arrives in Germany
Many Germans have objected strenuously to Google's Street View service saying that it is an improper invasion of their privacy. Now there's…
Mar 17, 2010
Accountability
Experts’ Biggest Fear: New Dodd Bill Won’t Stop Another Meltdown, “Epidemic” of Wall Street Fraud
On top of that, the compromised agency's actions are subjected to a veto by a "systemic risk" council made up of the…
Mar 17, 2010
Insurance
Endgame on health reform: Bloody, with a touch of weird
Who says legislative procedure is dull? The final machinations leading to a health care vote have me by the throat: What arcane…
Mar 16, 2010
Insurance
As Lawmakers Grapple With Financial Overhaul, They Call for More Studies
Carmen Balber, Washington director for Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit education and advocacy group, also opposes some of the consumer provisions, but for…
Mar 16, 2010