Consumer Watchdog’s President and Chairman of the Board is an award-winning and nationally recognized consumer advocate. Capitol Weekly, naming Jamie to its “Top 100” list of unelected movers and shakers in California politics, wrote, “Court has made a career of battling all comers in the interest of the public, and his take-no-prisoners approach has earned him plenty of enemies.” Jamie’s latest book is The Progressive’s Guide To Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws And Get The Change You Voted For (Chelsea Green, 2010).
“Americans angry about the state of their government might find in Court’s persuasive manifesto a cause for action,” Publishers Weekly writes. “With great accessibility and a fired-up attitude, Court brings his lessons in empowerment to the people.” He is also the author of Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Freedom And What You Can Do About It (Tarcher Putnam, 2003) and co-author of Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat To Your Health (Common Courage Press, 1999). Jamie has led dozens of major corporate and political campaigns to reform insurers, banks, technology companies, oil companies, utilities and political practices. He helped to pioneer the HMO patients’ rights movement in the United States, sponsoring successful laws in California and aiding them elsewhere, and was an early champion of many of the most important consumer protections in the federal Affordable Care Act years before they were enacted. In recent years, he has led the campaign to hold California oil refiners accountable for price gouging at the pump which resulted in the toughest oil refinery regulation in America.
A frequent media commentator and op-ed contributor, Jamie is a high-profile and stalwart defender of consumers’ rights. The Los Angeles Times calls him “a tireless consumer advocate.” The Wall Street Journal writes, “He’s notorious for his dramatic, sharp-tongued attacks on the health- and auto-insurance industries, and on any politician who takes their campaign cash.” His public interest career began as an advocate for the homeless and as a community organizer. Jamie’s Alma mater is Pomona College, where he graduated with a BA in History in 1989.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Who is Watching WellPoint’s Profits? Proposition 45 Will Provide Accountability
Santa Monica, CA --- The Proposition 45 campaign today said that WellPoint’s massive $731.1 million second quarter profit underscores the need for Proposition 45’s protections against health insurance price gouging.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Policyholders Supporting Prop 45 Detail Health Insurance Price-Gouging
Sacramento, CA -- Policyholders who faced extreme health insurance premium hikes rallied with nurses from the California Nurses Association, Consumer Watchdog, and other citizens in the state capitol Wednesday to support Proposition 45, which requires health insurance companies to justify and get approval for rate hikes.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Landmark Patient Safety Act Qualifies for November California Ballot
Sacramento, CA – More than 840,000 voter signatures turned in by consumer advocates and families victimized by medical negligence have qualified a landmark patient safety ballot measure for the November 2014 California ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Voters will have a chance then to enact the Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act and some of the strongest patient saf
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Consumer Watchdog Calls Health Insurance Industry-Funded Study “Insurance Fraudâ€
Santa Monica, CA -- The four big health insurance companies that control 94% of customers on California’s health care exchange paid $50,000 for a deceptive study, released today, designed to scare voters away from passing an initiative that will mean big savings for consumers, consumer advocates said today.
Greased Legislative Attempt To Shield Drunk And High Doctors Passes Assembly Committee, Decried By Consumer Watchdog
SANTA MONICA, CA – A suspension of legislative rules in the Assembly allowed a bill introduced five days ago to divert drunk and high doctors from discipline to confidential treatment to pass the Assembly Business, Professions, and Consumer Protections Committee today.
Consumer Watchdog Calls on Governor and Attorney General to Investigate Potential Conflicts of Interest at Public University Hospitals to Ensure Doctors’ Personal Financial Ties...
SANTA MONICA, CA – After UCLA settled a whistleblower case for $10 million in which accusations of conflicts of interest between doctors and the medical device industry were ignored, Californians deserve an independent investigation to ensure that patients are not harmed when UC financial interests conflict with transparency in patient care, wrote patient safety advocates in a letter yesterday.