Healthcare

Assembly committee kills patients’ rights bill

June 20, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Gabriel Valley Tribune</p> <p>Legislation aimed at strengthening patients' rights has been dealt a damning blow after members of a key Assembly committee rejected a proposal seeking to protect those insured by HMOs.</p>

Battle brews over HMOs Bill would let clients bypass arbitration in some serious cases.

June 18, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Sacramento Bee</p> <p>A bill that would allow patients to forgo mandatory arbitration in certain HMO disputes and turn directly to the courts is shaping up as the patients' rights battle of the year.</p>

Editorial – Patients and the law

June 14, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>Most enrollees in managed-care health plans are required to submit disagreements to HMO-dominated arbitration procedures rather than seek redress by lawsuit. But this contradicts the intent of California's 1999 patients' bill of rights to make HMOs legal</p>

House Judiciary Committee – Commercial & Administrative Law Subcommittee – HEALTH CARE AND LITIGATION BILL-NO: H.R. 4600

June 12, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony</p> <p>California is a failed model for the national restrictions being proposed on patients. California patients have been denied adequate compensation and representation for their injuries, and California doctors have seen almost no premium savings. Only the</p>

Docs’ insurance fight heats up

June 3, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Modern Healthcare</p> <p>Two volleys were fired last week in the growing battle over malpractice insurance premiums, which is either a looming national crisis or a public-relations scam orchestrated by physicians, depending on the diametrically opposed arguments.</p>

Health agency rejects ruling

May 31, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The managed-care chief says no to a judge's slashing of a fine against Kaiser.</h3><p class="source">The Sacramento Bee</p> <p>A legal battle over patient rights that began six years ago with a death at a Kaiser hospital took a new turn Thursday when state regulators rejected a court ruling they say undercuts their ability to guarantee California's 18 million HMO members timely</p>

Supporters, opponents of tort reform bill present arguments

May 30, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Las Vegas Review-Journal</p> <p>Dueling news conferences Wednesday at Valley Hospital Medical Center marked the first time the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association has engaged in an overt bid to win the public's sympathy in the medical malpractice insurance crisis.</p>

State HMO regulators lose round in dispute with Kaiser

May 30, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>An administrative law judge sided with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Thursday in a dispute with the state Department of Managed Health Care that tests the authority of the 3-year-old department. The state rejected the ruling, said Director Daniel Zingale</p>

Phone clerks rewarded for limiting MD visits

May 18, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Bonuses for keeping patient calls brief</h3><p class="source">Toronto Star</p> <p>Telephone clerks at California's largest HMO received bonuses for keeping calls with patients brief and limiting the number of doctor visits they agreed to set up.</p>

Kaiser Clerks Paid More for Helping Less

May 17, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Bonuses were given for limiting members' calls and doctor's appointments. HMO defends program but has dropped it.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Kaiser Permanente, the state's largest HMO, until recently had awarded financial bonuses to call center clerks who spent the least amount of time on the phone with each patient and limited the number of doctors' appointments, internal documents show.</p>

CALIFORNIA: HEALTH INSURANCE A ‘BAIT-AND-SWITCH SCAM’?

May 9, 2002  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">American Health Line</p> <p>Health insurance in California is "fast becoming a bait-and-switch scam" in which consumers choose a health plan and insurers then increase costs or reduce benefits</p>

Insurance: You Pay, They Bait and Switch;

May 8, 2002  ·  Jamie Court

<h3>Health-care plans are beginning to feel like scams in California.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The revelation that health insurers will be levying surcharges of as much as $400 per day for the best hospitals shows the degree to which insurance is fast becoming a bait-and-switch scam.</p>