Jerry Flanagan is Consumer Watchdog’s Litigation Director. Flanagan leads Consumer Watchdog’s litigation efforts in the areas of health insurance coverage and access to treatments, internet privacy, the California Public Records Act, and First Amendment issues. He has 25 years experience working in public interest and health care policy, legislation and litigation.
Flanagan has spearheaded efforts to address discrimination against those with HIV and other serious illnesses in the era of the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”).
Flanagan was counsel of record in a case before the United States Supreme Court where he and other Consumer Watchdog counsel represented plaintiffs living with HIV in a suit against CVS for discrimination, including CVS’s failure to provide medically appropriate dispensing of HIV medications and access to necessary counseling. After Consumer Watchdog’s unanimous win in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, CVS petitioned to the high court for review. Review was granted and the case was briefed, but CVS unexpectedly dropped the case, leaving the earlier victory intact. Doe v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. (9th Cir. 2020) 982 F.3d 1204, cert. granted in part, (2021) 141 S. Ct. 2882, and cert. dismissed sub nom. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. v. Doe, One (2021) 142 S. Ct. 480.
Flanagan is an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, where he previously taught the class “Health Insurance Regulation: Law, Policy & Politics.”
Flanagan exposed the illegal practice of health insurers retroactively canceling coverage and authored a law journal article underscoring the need for reform in health insurance rescission law, Healthy State of Mind: The Role of Intent in Health Plan Rescissions, 43 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 291 (2009). An “intentional misrepresentation” standard for coverage rescissions, advocated by the article, was adopted in the ACA.
Prior to joining Consumer Watchdog, Flanagan drafted and won passage of one of the nation’s strongest HMO accountability measure, which was signed into law in New Jersey in 2001.
Flanagan received a B.A. in Social/Cultural Anthropology and Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley and his law degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. At Loyola Flanagan was a Note and Comment Editor on the Loyola Law Review, and he graduated Magna Cum Laude and is a member of the Order of the Coif, Sayre Macneil Scholars Program, St. Thomas More Law Honor Society, and Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society.
Flanagan was admitted to the California Bar in 2010.
Blue Cross Settlement: Here’s What You Need to Know
Today Consumer Watchdog announced a settlement in our class action lawsuit against Anthem Blue Cross of California.
Anthem Blue Cross Consumers in “Death Spiral†Will Have Options to Change Coverage, Benefit from Rate Caps Under Class Action Settlement
Santa Monica, CA -- A California Superior Court judge has preliminarily approved the settlement of a class action lawsuit alleging that Anthem Blue Cross, the California subsidiary of the nation’s largest health insurer, WellPoint Inc., used enormous rate hikes to force patients into lower-benefit and higher-deductible health coverage in violation of state law.
12.5 Million People Want to Know … What Up’s with the Fogel Settlement?
By the end of this week, 12.5 million current and former Farmers insurance customers across the country will 
get a notice in the mail about a pending class action settlement. That notice provides consumers information about their rights under the settlement, which provides $455 million to consumers. Consumer Watchdog has intervened in the lawsuit to object to the settlement on the following grounds:
Were you slammed by an ‘out of network’ anesthesia bill?
Consumer Watchdog is investigating a pernicious threat to your pocketbook: the out-of-network medical specialist, particularly in hospitals. We’re trying to confirm how widespread the problem is, and need your help.
What’s Farmers going to do with all that money anyway?
This week Consumer Watchdog's legal team called on Farmers Group, Inc. to disclose how it plans to spend up to $400 million or more in class action settlement funds that are intended for consumers but will revert to the insurance company under the terms of a pending class action settlement.
Columnist Asks: Will Farmers Insurance Settlement Turn Into A Good Deal For Customers? Not Likely…
Today Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik takes a hard look at a proposed settlement in a lawsuit against Farmers Insurance opposed by Consumer Watchdog. According to Hiltzik, under the settlement, Farmers would likely keep the lion's share of a $455 million settlement fund intended for consumers while lawyers for the plaintiff would walk away with $90 million in fees.
Did Blue Cross Raise Your Deductible?
David Lazarus' column in the Los Angeles Times (see below) reports that on May 1st, Blue Cross will dramatically increase the annual deductibles on individual health insurance policies, increase premiums, and make other changes to benefits like increasing co-pays.