Healthcare

L.A. Negotiates Lower Drug Prices For Residents

September 4, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The city of Los Angeles this week announced a major new prescription drug bulk purchasing plan to lower costs for residents. A five-year long effort by a number of advocacy organizations working with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, finally resulted in success, at a time when the spiraling costs of prescription drugs figure prominently in the health care reform debate.

HMO Claims-Rejection Rates Trigger State Investigation

September 4, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> <strong>California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is joining state regulators in scrutinizing the payment practices of seven major health plans in response to complaints from physicians and hospitals.</strong> </p> <p> Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based advocacy group, criticized the department for failing to analyze the data and make the public aware of it. "There is no more important information to the consumer than whether they can rely on their health insurance company or HMO to give them the treatment they need," Rosenfield said. </p>

Bad day for health insurers, great day for consumers!

September 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> The health insurance industry took it on the chin today. A new study exposed their <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/healthcare/la-fi-insure-denials3-2009sep03,0,1423324.story">denials of up to 40% of doctor-requested care</a> (death panel, anyone?). And California's attorney general <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insurers-reform3-2009sep03,0,2545747.story">may investigate two top insurers' coercion </a>of employees to lobby members Congress against strong health reform. News like that could force Congress to step away from toeing the industry line.<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/healthcare/la-fi-insure-denials3-2009sep03,0,1423324.story"></a> </p>

WellPoint, United Healthcare Accused Of Illegal Actions

September 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>The insurers pressured employees to lobby against healthcare reform, Consumer Watchdog alleges.</strong><br /> <br /> The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation of a California law against coerced political activity, a consumer group alleged Wednesday. Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica has asked California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate its claim that UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc. pushed workers to write their elected officials, attend town hall meetings and enlist family and friends to ensure an overhaul that matches their interests.

Consumer Group Says UnitedHealthcare, Wellpoint Violated Calif. Law

September 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

A Santa Monica group has urged California Attorney General Jerry Brown to probe whether the nation’s two largest health insurers have asked their workers to lobby Congress -- during business hours -- to weaken health reform. Consumer Watchdog on Wednesday said in a letter to Brown that Minneapolis-based UnitedHealthcare and Wellpoint Inc. of Indianapolis have launched national campaigns to individually “assist” employees in writing and calling members of Congress. The coercion, the Santa Monica group states, is illegal under the California Labor Code.

PacifiCare kill rate 40%, CIGNA’s 33%, according to gov’t data

September 2, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> <a href="http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/september/california-s-real-death-panels-insurers-deny-21-of-claims.html">New data from California</a> unearthed by the California Nurses Association reveals top health insurers deny claims with rates that make Vegas gambling look good.   </p>

Did Health Insurers Lean On Their Employees To Lobby Congress — On Work Time?

September 2, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

It's one thing to see a rowdy health care town hall meeting on TV. It's another to have your boss tell you to go to one. Or write your Congressman about health care.  Yet that's what Consumer Watchdog -- a SoCal uh, consumer watchdog -- is alleging that two major health insurers have done to their charges.

Think You’re Insured? Not So Fast!

August 26, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> For years, Shafer had paid high monthly premiums for what he thought was a first-rate health insurance plan only to find out that there's a gaping hole in the system. Judy Dugan is the Director of Research for Consumer Watchdog. She says: "It's a real dirty secret of our medical system that you can make sure you've gone to a network hospital, that the main doctor who's treating you is in network, but then even if you're unconscious and can't make a decision, you can get an out of network surgeon." </p>

Goodbye Senator Kennedy

August 26, 2009  ·  Carmen Balber

A quiet recess week in Washington turned somber this morning with the news that Senator Ted Kennedy passed away late last night after a year-long battle with brain cancer. I can’t claim to have known Senator Kennedy, but the one time I did meet him it was in the course of what he called the “cause of my life”...

Europe’s the leader in drug research; What is it we’re paying extra for?

August 26, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The drug companies' argument against letting the government bargain for bulk prices on prescription drugs is so familiar that even talk radio hosts know it by heart: If the U.S. cuts drug prices (like Europe has), the great American engine of pharmaceutical research will put on the brakes. But it turns out U.S. drug companies do less research than European companies, Europe's lead is expanding, and companies there make healthy domestic profits. So why are we overpaying? </p>

Goldhill is a (sincere) crackpot, and The Atlantic is his enabler

August 24, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> I shouldn't have read the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care">Atlantic magazine cover story</a> just before bedtime last night, just like I shouldn't watch "Saw" before hitting the pillow. It's a radical and repulsive health care proposal by media executive David Goldhill, who, after a year of pondering health care, is trumpeting his "Eureka!" idea to drive down prices and improve quality: Make patients pay more--up to $50,000 a year--for health care. It's like consumers driving down DVD prices, he says, and look how cheap DVDs are now! </p>

California stem cell board backs public option for healthcare reform

August 21, 2009  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> Between voting to reject most of the recommendations from the state's good government panel and handing out $16 million in grants to stem cell researchers, the stem cell agency's board ventured into one of the hottest debates of the...</p>