Healthcare

No More Out-of-Network Coverage for California Anthem Blue Cross Members

January 9, 2017  ·  Laura Antonini

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2676" alt="" class="right" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/images_doublecross-thumb.gif" style="width: 150px; height: 96px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;" width="150" height="96" />Anthem Blue Cross delivered a blow to its California individual and family plan members at the start of the new year by stripping policies of out-of-network coverage. The worst part: most of these consumers don’t even know yet that they lost their out-of-network coverage for 2017.</p>

Health CEOs In Ventura County Paid More Than Obama

December 10, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p style="">Gary Wilde gained $1.4 million in salary, bonuses, benefits and deferred compensation while leading the nonprofit Community Memorial Health System in 2015.</p> <p style="">Tax records filed in November show the health system paid annually over 12 years into a retirement fund for the 61-year-old CEO. The plan had reached more than $4.2 million by the end of 2015. Wilde says taxes have cut the number by more than half. The system Wilde leads is nearing the end of a $350 million hospital construction project funded by bonds and contributions solicited from the community.</p>

Judge Allows Anthem To Continue Sales Of Stripped-Down Insurance Policies

November 16, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>A judge ruled Tuesday against a restraining order that would have stopped Anthem Blue Cross from switching 500,000 Californians to health insurance plans offering no coverage for out-of-network care.</p> <p>A consumer group had asked the judge for the restraining order after Anthem sent notices saying customers would be automatically switched into plans that paid nothing for doctors and hospitals outside the network if they did not change to another insurer by Dec. 15.</p>

EDITORIAL: Anthem Blue Cross Offers PPO Customers Less Coverage For More Dollars

November 7, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>To hold down premiums, the insurer switched to policies with no out-of-network benefits.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Several weeks ago, thick envelopes from Anthem Blue Cross stuffed with 21 pages of text landed in the mailboxes of thousands of the company's California customers. The cover letter indicated right at the top that their premiums were going up, and advised that "if you're happy with your health plan, it's easy to keep it for 2017" -- the only thing required was to pay the full premium on the bill for January.</p>

Spending Big On Sex And Drug Initiatives, AIDS Activist Michael Weinstein Says He ‘Can’t Lose’

October 10, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p style=""><span class="dateline">Los Angeles, CA -- </span>In a 21st-floor office with clear views of the Hollywood sign, Michael Weinstein sips a protein drink and nurses his mistrust of the pharmaceutical industry.</p>

New Law Requires California Doctors to Consult Prescription Drug Database

September 28, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="paragraph" data-pnum="1">A bill requiring doctors to check the state’s narcotics database before they prescribe controlled substances for new patients was signed into law this week.</p> <p class="paragraph" data-pnum="2">California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill Tuesday that would also require doctors to annually check the state database, called CURES, if the course of narcotic treatment continues for the patient.</p> <p class="paragraph" data-pnum="3">CURES is the California’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System.</p>

Editorial: Doctors Stalling On Opioid Drug Reform

August 11, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="editorialbodytext"><span id="default"><span id="MNGiSection">For the fourth consecutive year, we write this editorial. </span></span></p> <p><span id="default"><span id="MNGiSection">Since we started, thousands of Californians have died from prescription opioid drug overdoses. Tens of thousands have been hospitalized.</span></span></p> <p><span id="default"><span id="MNGiSection">And since we started, the California Medical Association has successfully blocked simple, meaningful reform that could greatly reduce the human toll.</span></span></p>

Editorial: Doctors Need To Support Bill On Drug Database

July 6, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The numbers are staggering and getting worse. More than 165,000 Americans died from prescription opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2014, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state Department of Public Health says 1,895 Californians died of opioid overdoses in 2013. An additional 11,683 — an average of 32 a day — were treated in California emergency rooms for nonfatal overdoses and other opioid-related conditions.</p>

Elderly Woman Left Permanently Disabled by Negligent Doctor, Lawyer Husband Knew The Law Was Stacked Against Them

June 19, 2016  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-3027" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/screen_shot_2017-06-16_at_1.34.49_pm.png" style="width: 220px; height: 260px; float: right;" width="508" height="600" />Sally Hunter was a homemaker in Pasadena California, happily married to her loving husband Harold Hunter.  But everything changed when colon cancer was discovered.  A cascade of complications caused by medical negligence lead to over a decade of heartache for this elderly couple.</p>

EDITORIAL: How To Help Stop Opioid Abusers From ‘Doctor Shopping’ For Prescription Drugs

June 14, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Like 48 other states, California has an online database that records all the prescriptions issued for potentially habit-forming or abuseable drugs, such as OxyContin and Ritalin. The hope is that the system will deter patients from “doctor shopping” to obtain excess quantities of a drug, and help authorities crack down on healthcare professionals who negligently — or cynically — prescribe pills on demand.</p>

Bill to Reverse Opioid Overdose Epidemic Moves Forward in California Assembly

June 14, 2016  ·  Carmen Balber

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-20867" alt="" class="right" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/images_cures.jpg" style="width: 160px; height: 106px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;" width="160" height="106" />Sacramento, CA – A California Assembly committee approved a bill today to begin reversing the opioid overdose epidemic and save lives. More people are lost in California to drug overdoses than any other state, and many of those family members testified to their loss today.</p>

A young musician went into open heart surgery to put in place a valve, but after being placed incorrectly he died from complications.

June 12, 2016  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p><span style="font-size: 12px;"><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-3025" alt="" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/image1.jpg" style="width: 230px; height: 165px; float: right;" width="878" height="631" /></span></p> <p>Anthony Fossett was a young aspiring musician who was a beloved member of his community.  An alumnus of Youth Radio's Core and Bridge program, Anthony wanted to be a music producer and hoped to eventually start his own studio.  And he was making great strides to achieve his dreams, performing at the Oakland Museum and helping to produce local rap artists until medical malpractice derailed these dreams.</p>