Healthcare

Amazon Accused Of Questionable Pricing

March 22, 2017 · Evan Thomas King

Before or at the start of the promotion, Kogan increased the prices of the three computer monitors featured on its eBay store. As a result, Kogan claimed consumers received a 20% discount off the newly increased prices, they in fact only received a 9% discount off the previously advertised prices for each of the three computer monitors.

Critics Say Patients Need More Protection From Disciplined Doctors

March 1, 2017 · Evan Thomas King

The Medical Board of California says it is cracking down on doctors who violate their probation, while critics say the Board must do more to protect patients. At a hearing Monday in Sacramento, Kimberly Kirchmeyer, the Medical Board’s executive director, testified the Board has 15 inspectors who keep track of the 635 doctors currently on probation for gross negligence, self-prescribing and over-prescribing narcotics or other dangerous drugs, inappropriate sexual contact with patients, and other serious violations.

Doctors’ Failure To Provide Post-Operative Care Allowed Infection To Spread; Causing Woman To Lose Limbs

March 1, 2017 · Evan Thomas King

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

January 9, 2017 · Laura Antonini

<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2676" alt="" class="right" src="https://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.

Health CEOs In Ventura County Paid More Than Obama

December 10, 2016 · Mark Reback

Gary Wilde gained $1.4 million in salary, bonuses, benefits and deferred compensation while leading the nonprofit Community Memorial Health System in 2015. 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.

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

November 16, 2016 · Mark Reback

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. 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.

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

November 7, 2016 · Mark Reback

To hold down premiums, the insurer switched to policies with no out-of-network benefits. 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.

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

October 10, 2016 · Mark Reback

Los Angeles, CA -- 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.

New Law Requires California Doctors to Consult Prescription Drug Database

September 28, 2016 · Mark Reback

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. 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. CURES is the California’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System.

Editorial: Doctors Stalling On Opioid Drug Reform

August 11, 2016 · Mark Reback

For the fourth consecutive year, we write this editorial. Since we started, thousands of Californians have died from prescription opioid drug overdoses. Tens of thousands have been hospitalized. And since we started, the California Medical Association has successfully blocked simple, meaningful reform that could greatly reduce the human toll.

Editorial: Doctors Need To Support Bill On Drug Database

July 6, 2016 · Mark Reback

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.

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

June 19, 2016 · Evan Thomas King

<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-3027" alt="" src="https://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.

Fairness for Injured Patients

Medical Board of California Announces Maternal Mortality Task Force

Patient Voices