Healthcare

Ashcroft Reconsiders HMO Bill

September 30, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Kansas City Star</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Sen. John Ashcroft is having second thoughts about his opposition to a high-profile bill that would give Americans more clout to deal with health maintenance organizations. Ashcroft, a Missouri Republican facing a re-election challenge fr</p>

State to Examine Planned Hospital Closure

September 29, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has launched a statewide probe into whether the parent company of Mercy Healthcare Sacramento violated laws governing charities and anti-competitive practices when it purchased - and announced plans to close - a sm</p>

Blue Cross To Offer Cheap Plan

September 28, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>Saying it wants to offer cheaper health care to the uninsured, Blue Cross of California proposed premium reductions yesterday for most of its individual policyholders while shifting some of the costs to deductibles.</p>

Congress Urged to Support Patient’s Bill of Rights

September 19, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Troy Record</p> <p>ALBANY, NY- The husband of Judith Packevicz, the Saratoga Springs woman who died after battling her HMO over a liver transplant, joined with other advocates in Albany Monday to call on New York's congressional delegation to support a patients bill of righ</p>

PATIENTS’ RIGHTS: New Compromise Bill Targets GOP Votes

September 13, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">American Healthline</p> <p>Four patients' rights champions -- Reps. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), John Dingell (D-Mich.), Greg Ganske (R-Iowa) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) -- have proposed a new compromise bill, ho</p>

Insurance-Reform Group Criticizes Northup’s HMO Votes

September 13, 2000  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Louisville Courier-Journal</p> <p>A non-profit group pressing for a patients' bill of rights said in Louisville yesterday that U.S. Rep. Anne Northup should change her vote on the issue or give up her right to sue HMOs - a right government employees have but most Americans don't.</p>

Doctors, Advocates Like Aetna’s Choice

September 7, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Hartford Courant</p> <p>Aetna's appointment of Dr. John Rowe as its next chief executive gave hope to the medical community and consumer advocates Wednesday for further change at the nation's largest health insurer, while Wall Street weighed in with a bit of skepticism.</p>

Anger From The Coast…California Physicians and Groups Lash Out At HMOs

August 1, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Modern Physician</p> <p>Physicians in California, like Peter Finch's newsman Howard Beale in the movie Network, are as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.</p>

Guided Imagery May Smooth Road To Recovery

July 24, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>Allen Hackett was feeling lousy. Hours earlier, surgeons had transplanted his son's healthy kidney into his abdomen.</p>

Insurers: Plan Would Ease Health Services

July 19, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">USA Today</p> <p>Top executives from many of the nation's health insurers outlined a plan Tuesday that they say is the first unified effort to reduce hassles for patients and physicians. The reforms can be accomplished within 12 months and mark the beginning of a more</p>

Are Patients Now Corporate Chattel?

July 18, 2000  ·  Jamie Court

<!-- excerpt --><p>The sale of "covered lives," as patients are called in the industry, without the sale of a company, a bankruptcy, or a merger turns patients into no more than corporate chattel and threatens to make the continuity of individuals' medical care as volatile</p>

United to Shift its Members to Blue Shield

July 15, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Diego Union-Tribune</p> <p>The 225,000 members of United Healthcare, a subsidiary of the United Health Group, will be moved to Blue Shield of California, the companies announced yesterday. The $40 million deal covers members in United Healthcare's HMOs, preferred-provider organ</p>