Healthcare

Did ‘Don’t Shut It Down’ Mentality Cause Chevron Refinery Disaster?

August 8, 2012  ·  Judy Dugan

<p><img class=" size-full wp-image-2206" alt="" class="right" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images_judydrawingname.gif" style="width: 133px; height: 200px;" width="133" height="200" />More than two hours passed at Chevron's Richmond, CA, refinery between the discovery of a leak and the ignition of a blaze that threatened the health of thousands of nearby residents and sent hundreds to hospital emergency rooms Monday night. At any point during those hours, shutting down the big crude-oil processing unit in which a pipe was leaking could have prevented or greatly limited the disaster. </p>

Evergreen Is Never Clean: Time For Hazardous Waste Regulators to Act

July 26, 2012  ·  Liza Tucker

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2461" alt="" class="right" src="http://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/images_evergreen-refinery.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 150px; " width="300" height="225" />If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a hazardous vapor spews out of an industrial plant, but no regulator reacts, was there ever a leak?</p>

California Privacy Law Could Ease, Despite Strong Voter Support

July 2, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> SACRAMENTO, CA – California state officials could be poised to weaken a privacy law pertaining to patient medical records. This despite the fact that the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, which gives patients the right to take legal action against a healthcare provider for medical records released without permission, carries support from 77 percent of voters, according to a statewide survey. </p> <p> Current law allows patients to sue a provider for damages of $1,000 per record released without patient permission.</p>

Consumer Groups Blast SF Health Department’s Lobbying Budget

June 21, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <strong>City hospital executive says lobbyists help preserve government funding</strong></p> <p> San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee spared the city's Public Health Department from cuts in his latest budget proposal, which benefited not just health care consumers, but also a lobbying group that consumer advocates say works against them.</p>

A Push To Let States Widen Healthcare

May 25, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Universal coverage, Medicare for all, single payer -- call it what you will.<br /> It's clear that conservative forces are determined to prevent such a system from ever being introduced at the national level. So it's up to the states.<br /> <br /> The catch is that to make universal coverage work at the state level, you'd need some way to channel Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare funds into the system. At the moment, that's difficult if not impossible.<br /> <br />

Virtual Doctors Visits Catch On With Insurers, Employers

May 7, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <strong>Medical services delivered on Web or by phone transform primary health care</strong><br /> <br /> Tired of feeling "like the walking dead" but worried about the cost of a doctor's visit, Amber Young sat on her bed near tears one recent Friday night in Woodbury, Minn.<br /> <br /> That's when she logged onto an Internet site, run by NowClinic online care, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group (parent of health insurer UnitedHealthcare), and "met" with a doctor in Texas.<br /> <br />

Insurance Rate-Hike Initiative Gains High-Profile Supporters

May 1, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Several high-profile business names, such as San Francisco hedge-fund manager Thomas Steyer and agribusiness magnate Stewart Resnick, have contributed to a proposed ballot measure seeking tighter regulation of health insurance rates, according to campaign finance records.<br /> <br />

WellPoint Profit Falls 8%

April 26, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <b>Health insurance giant WellPoint says it was hurt by lower enrollment and rising medical costs. Revenue grew 4% to $15.42 billion in the quarter.</b></p>

Insurance Regulation: Who’re You Calling A ‘Special Interest’?

April 17, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to name a group that opposes government oversight of health  insurance premiums "Californians Against Higher Healthcare Costs." Especially when the group includes the trade associations for doctors and hospitals, two sets of Californians who've contributed mightily to the high cost of healthcare.<br /> <br />

Providers Line Up Against Initiative

March 15, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <strong>Prepared To Do Battle Against Premium Regulation</strong><br /> <br /> California's provider and payer communities lined up this week against a proposed ballot measure for the November election that would provide the California Insurance Commissioner new powers to regulate health insurance premiums.<br /> <br /> The California Medical Association, California Hospital Association, and California Association of Physician Groups have banded together to create an organization called Californians Against Higher Health Care Costs.<br /> <br />

Health Insurance Rate Plan Attacked

March 13, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <strong>A coalition of insurers, doctors and hospitals opposes a proposed initiative.</strong><br /> <br /> California's doctors, hospitals and insurance companies have launched a united campaign against a proposed ballot measure seeking tighter regulation of health insurance rates, and proponents returned fire.<br /> <br />

Medical Debt Burdens 20 Percent in U.S.

March 12, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> One-in-5 U.S. adults say they are burdened by medical debt and half of them are unable to pay the debt at all, federal health officials said.<br /> <br /> Lead author Robin Cohen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention'sNational Center for Health Statistics said health insurance -- public or private -- frequently determines whether families can pay for their medical expenses.<br /> <br />