Consumer Watchdog

Ratepayer Protection Pledge

This Pledge in Support of California Utility Consumers was mailed to all candidates for the State Legislature and the California Congressional delegation.

Politicians Challenged to Protect Consumers From the Failures of Electricity Deregulation

Pledge Mailed to Every California Incumbent and Candidates

Gore Partially Adopts Consumer Group Recommendation:

Punitive Measures To Be Taken Against Medicare HMOs That Cherry Pick Yesterday, Vice President Al Gore announced he would first warn, then…

Edison Wants $2 Billion From Ratepayers; Advocates Respond

Toward a Seamless System of Health Care

The time has come for an overhaul of the indecipherable patchwork of insurance programs to create a single, seamless and sensible system.

Power Plants Ask for Huge Tax Breaks

Counties resist pressure to reduce valuationsSan Francisco Chronicle Companies that bought up power plants under the state's deregulation program are now filing…

PG&E rate shock feared

Higher charges will be sought, but CEO says they would be spread outSan Jose Mercury News PG&E may seek to lift a…

Low sworn in as state insurance commissioner

Associated Press Insurance Commissioner Harry Low took the oath of office Monday, promising to restore public trust in the position his predecessor…

Congress Urged to Support Patient’s Bill of Rights

Troy Record ALBANY, NY- The husband of Judith Packevicz, the Saratoga Springs woman who died after battling her HMO over a liver…

The Causes and Effects of the Price Spike in the Midwest during 2000

Manipulation of Inventories and Creation of Price Spikes

Higher utility bills a step closer

PUC to hear companies' plans to pass costs onto customersStockton Record The California Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday opened a door that…

Average HMO Medicare Rate Set to Double

Health: Premiums May Even Reach $179 a Month for Some. Little Change Seen for L.A., Orange CountiesLos Angeles Times Medicare managed-care plans--often…

California: Lawmakers Advocate CHIP Expansion

American Healthline Backed by a "cadre of heath care workers and local activists," California Assembly members Bob Hertzberg (D) and Martin Gallegos…

State is letting car insurers flout law, group says

Associated Press Consumer advocates told an appeals court yesterday that the state is giving its blessing to insurance companies that violate a…

PATIENTS’ RIGHTS: New Compromise Bill Targets GOP Votes

American Healthline Four patients' rights champions -- Reps. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), John Dingell (D-Mich.), Greg Ganske (R-Iowa) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)…

California Looks for Solutions to Growing Lack of Health Coverage

Associated Press With no work for nearly six months, electrician Michael Everett barely had money to survive, let alone supply medical coverage…

Court of Appeal Hears Case to End ZIP Code-Based Automobile Insurance Rates

Lower Court Ruled Quackenbush Regulation Defective

Consumer Advocates Chastise Insurance Regulators for Endorsing Deregulation

NAIC "Appeasement" Proposal Would Undermine Consumer Protections Throughout Country