Healthcare

Like Obama Promised, Bottom Up Health Care Politics

December 23, 2008  ·  Jamie Court

<p> Today's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/health/23health.html?emc=eta1">report by Robert Pear</a> in the New York Times, about about one of the 4,200 house parties on health care reform being convened across America on health...</p>

Stuck in the System

December 6, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>On Nov. 4, Alicia Messinger was strong enough to return home from the hospital, but a month later, she's still waiting for the day it actually happens</strong>.<br /> Jerry Flanagan with Consumer Watchdog, a frequent critic of California health-insurance company practices, said upon learning about Messinger's case that she was the victim of "legions of bean counters that deal with voluminous rules to prevent individuals from getting care. "There is no incentive to be efficient and provide quality service. There is no incentive that makes the insurance company strive for efficiency, so the needs of the individual patients get lost," Flanagan said.

Consumer Group Has Plan For Nation’s Health Care System

December 2, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The California-based consumer group ConsumerWatchdog.org has a plan for the nation's health care system. The organization has written to President-elect Barack Obama, saying Medicare should be open to "all Americans." Consumer Watchdog says forcing consumers to buy insurance policies is good for insurance companies but not for the nation.

AARP’s idea of health insurance is junk

November 20, 2008  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> It wasn't a big shock to me when AARP announced that it would be <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/us/19insure.html">"investigating" deceptively marketed health insurance</a> carrying the AARP brand, in response to a U.S. Senate investigation. AARP may technically be a nonprofit, but it also aggressively and profitably markets commercial services that appear at first to be an AARP benefit. AARP's "insurance,", from partner company United Health, is just a capped flat payment for certain medical services. Anyone who fell seriously ill wouldn't be "covered" and could be left deeply in medical debt. So why should we trust AARP's self-proclaimed role in national health reform? </p>

Another huge medical data breach is mishandled

November 8, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Both president-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain backed electronic medical records during their campaign. Computerizing patient data, which could increase efficiency and cut costs, is part of every major federal health reform...</p>

Cost of care still #1 concern for Mass. residents

October 23, 2008  ·  Carmen Balber

A new survey out of Massachusetts questions whether the newly insured under that state’s mandatory health insurance law are really protected. <br /> <br /> According to a new poll, the <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/23/medical_costs_still_burden_many_despite_insurance/">cost of health coverage is still a major concern for patients</a>...

Stem cell subcommittee OKs phone-in rules

October 14, 2008  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> In its fight to muster a quorum for regular stem cell board meetings, a <a href="http://www.cirm.ca.gov/meetings/2008/10-13-08.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">board subcommittee </a>has signed off on ...</p>

Who You Gonna Call?

October 7, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> <strong>Steps to Take When an Unexpected Medical Bill Comes in the Mail</strong> </p> <p> Figuring out how to lodge a complaint in our highly fractured health care system can be a bewildering ordeal. </p>

Arnold: Protect Maria, let the rest go bankrupt!

October 1, 2008  ·  Jamie Court

A few years ago Warren Beatty claimed at our consumer group's annual dinner that the definition of a "Schwarzenegger Republican" was a Bush Republican who called himself a Schwarzenegger Republican. Schwarzenegger's final verdict on California health care legislation this week proved Beatty's point.

Health Care Reforms Back on Governor’s Plate

September 27, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Bills passed by the Legislature this session and awaiting the governor's signature or veto take aim at what critics call some of the most egregious, but still relatively rare, practices in the health care system: insurers that cancel a patients' coverage after they get sick, hospitals and doctors that stick patients with huge bills while they're haggling with insurers for payment and insurance companies that use customer premiums to pad profit margins instead of to pay for medical care.

Med Privacy Protected

September 24, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

A bill that would have allowed pharmacies to sell patient prescription and medical information to third-party companies narrowly passed the California State Senate before failing in the State Assembly. "This bill is marketed as something that it's not," says Jerry Flanagan, healthcare advocate for Consumer Watchdog and one of the leading critics of the bill. "It's all about drug companies trying to raise their profits by marketing to people in their mailbox." The mailings would have touted expensive brand-name drugs, rather than encouraging patients to try less expensive, generic versions when available, according to Flanagan.

Hitches in Mass health insurance mandate

September 17, 2008  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> I just got word that Massachusetts is considering delaying several key portions of its mandatory health insurance law. </p> <p> The <a href="http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?post_date=2008-09-17&id=13970">tra...</a> </p>