Healthcare

Patient protections are California’s to lose

January 12, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> California has been a leader in patients rights, largely in response to abuses  by HMOs that, for instance, tried to eject new mothers and babies from the hospital a few hours after giving birth, and attempted to require "drive-by mastectomies."  The federal health reform bill could <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=31904">weaken or do away with</a> all that, including a right to HIV/AIDS testing. Rep. Jackie Speier of San Mateo is leading a tough fight to preserve such rights, and so is Consumer Watchdog. </p>

CDPH Won’t Discuss Distribution Of H1N1 Vaccine

January 7, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>KCRA 3 Gets Letter In Response To Public Records Request<br /> </strong><br /> SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- When the H1N1 flu pandemic began, there was a serious shortage of vaccine. "The public wants to be sure that the vaccine was distributed fairly and without favoritism. We have no evidence [of problems] in California, but when the state refuses to release information, it reduces our trust and raises suspicion," Consumer Watchdog said.<br />

Your health premiums at work, peddling influence in 50 states

December 29, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Health insurers, hospitals and even some state-level doctor groups are gearing up for the next battle against reform, in state capitols. So, just as insurance companies used your ever-rising premium dollars to...</p>

The battle isn’t over, and consumers have a new ammo supply

December 29, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> I've been reading the <a href="http://democrats.senate.gov/reform/managers-amendment.pdf">latest amendments</a> to the <a href="http://democrats.senate.gov/reform/patient-protection-affordable-care-act.pdf">Senate health bill</a>, hunti...</p>

A Year Of Progress On Consumer Issues

December 27, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Tough For Many Consumers, It Also Brought Progress On Financial Protection, Product Safety and Healthcare Reform</strong><br />    <br /> Consumers still have to be vigilant -- and to keep pushing for a fair shake from industry-friendly policymakers. But 2009 was a year of undeniable progress for consumer interests. And that's saying something.

National Health Reform Could Jeopardize California Patient Protections

December 23, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

If California wanted to mandate benefits that exceed federal standards — including those now in place — it would have to add them back through new legislation passed in Sacramento. Moreover, California would have to pay the extra costs of any additional benefits it mandated — either by compensating individuals enrolled in the plans or by paying insurance companies directly. That could lead to a situation, critics say, in which many of the state's current consumer protections are stripped away. To get them back, "we would have to go back and fight these battles again, one by one" in the state Legislature, said Jerry Flanagan, a health care advocate for Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog.

Health Reform Could Undercut California’s Consumer Protections

December 22, 2009  ·  Jerry Flanagan

California's Democratic delegation in the House is raising concerns that the federal health reform package could derail some of the state's consumer protection laws. The delegation has <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/CompactLetter.pdf">written a letter to congressional leaders</a>. The Senate health reform bill would allow insurers to form multi-state health care compacts and nationwide plans. These policies would only be subject to the laws in the state in which the policy is issued.

Legislators Blast Interstate Health Care Proposal

December 17, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A provision in both House and Senate healthcare legislation that would allow insurers to sell healthcare interstate is coming under fire from liberal members of the House from Maine and California. A Consumer Watchdog official said 17 states that have more than 50 health benefit mandates in state law have the most to lose under the pre-emption provisions. Those states represent 54% of the U.S. population, according to Jerry Flanagan, healthcare policy director for Consumer Watchdog, in a statement released in connection with the legislators’ letter. Consumer Watchdog is also concerned about an amendment sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that would bar a state from opting out of any nationwide plan sold by an insurer.

WellPoint Thrives As Public Plan Takes A Dive

December 11, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> As the health-care reform debate boiled over this week, so did WellPoint's stock price. Shares of the Indianapolis-based health insurance giant surged to a 52-week high Thursday as the prospects for a new government-run "public option" health plan faded amid intense Senate debate. WellPoint rivals Cigna and UnitedHealth Group also hit 52-week highs. Critics of the insurance industry, though, say reform is already favoring WellPoint and its peers. "Everything that has happened in the past day or so has certainly been in their favor," said Judy Dugan, research director of California-based Consumer Watchdog. </p>

GOP is really, REALLY on message with insurers

December 11, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> What does Republican Party chair Michael Steele <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/10/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5962642.shtml">have to say</a> about health reform? "Delay, stall, slow down and ultimately stop [the...</p>

John McCain’s Rant for Private Medicare

November 30, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

I was about to fall asleep listening to opening statements today in the Senate debate on health reform--until Sen. John McCain of Arizona got to the podium. He began angry and got red-faced furious, coming back over and over to "$180 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage," and how it would harm "my" seniors. The<a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=26284"> lies</a> and the <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=31129">fear campaign </a>that insurers are using against any reform of profit-making Medicare Advantage, with folks like McCain as their mouthpieces, are just disgraceful. <p>   </p>

Thailand Is ‘In Network”? Employers And Insurers Embrace Medical Tourism

November 28, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Like some 47 million other Americans, Nancy Sowa (pictured) doesn't have health insurance. So when her doctors last year told her she needed a total hip replacement, the office manager for a non-profit did what a growing number of U.S. citizens are doing. She headed abroad. "If you look at the American College of Surgeons, they are reluctant about having to pick up after another doctor's mistakes, especially by one not in this country," says Judy Dugan, research director with the Santa Monica, Calif.-based consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. Dugan agrees the cost of medical care is out-of-hand in the U.S., but she says industry and policy makers should look for ways other than medical tourism to bring it down.