Healthcare

One board member gets it

May 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

"All Californians are paying for Prop 71," said Dr. Claire Pomeroy, "so all should benefit from it."<br/> <br/> Dr. Pomeroy is the Dean of the UC Davis Medical school and has a seat on the 29-member stem cell agency board of...

Should ad execs have access to your medical records?

May 2, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> A bill passed its second California Senate committee this week that would give an ever-wider circle of companies access to Californians' private medical information. SB 1096 by Senator Ron Calderon would allow pharmacies to give...</p>

State Will Reinstate Canceled Health Policies

April 18, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> LOS ANGELES, CA -- One week after consumer advocates complained of inaction, state regulators announced Thursday that they will force three of the state's largest health plans to reinstate 26 patients who have had their medical coverage...</p>

Advocates Push To Reinstate HMO Patients

April 16, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> LOS ANGELES, CA -- Though state regulators fined Blue Cross $1 million last year for improperly dropping policyholders after they fell ill, they stopped short of helping patients get their coverage back. <br/>     ...</p>

Some medical researchers finally get it

April 15, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<br /> I stumbled across a delightful <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/health/15conf.html?ref=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article in The New York Times</a> this morning: "Citing Ethics, Some Doctors Are Rejecting Industry Pay."<br />

Medical Middlemen’s Hands Are Out

April 7, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> A pair of adjacent stories on health care costs in today's New York Times illustrate the big potholes in privatizing health reform. They also point to some better paths. One article was on "huge variations" in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/health/policy/07care.html?scp=2&sq=Robert+Pear&st=nyt">end-of-life medical costs.</a> More on that later. The other, by Reed Abelson, scrutinized a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/business/07medicare.html?ref=todayspaper">seemingly failed Medicare experiment </a>in reducing diabetes treatment costs through intense case management. So far, it's been a wash at best. But the figure that struck me was the "as much as $2,000 a year" per patient that Medicare paid to private contractors to manage the cases. </p>

Panel Tosses Challenge to HMO Reviews

April 4, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> LOS ANGELES, CA -- A state appellate panel has rejected a consumer lawsuit that accuses state regulators of shirking their statutory duty to protect patients by favoring health maintenance organizations when they review complaints.<br/>...</p>

Universal health care or a mandate fake-out?

April 4, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> United States Senator Ted Kennedy, one of the nation's longest and hardest-fighting advocates to provide health care everyone and patient rights, hired one of the architects of Massachusetts' individual health insurance mandate today... </p>

Did stem cell agency learn from Klein-Ortiz flap?

April 3, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Has then California stem cell agency finally learned the value of good relations with the State Legislature? Maybe so.<br />

Doctors Sick of Insurance

April 3, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> No one knows more about the state of medical care in America than the people delivering it. That's what gives extra punch to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31432035">a survey </a>finding that a solid majority--59%--of doctors now favor national universal health insurance, way up from 6 years ago. Yes, real single-payer, not the private insurance expansion favored in different forms by all of the presidential candidates. It's another case of politics dragging way behind what actual people want. </p>

Nursing Home Lobbyist Quits After He Predicts SEIU Powerplay

April 2, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

On Wednesday, March 19, at 8:52 p.m., Scott Carlson, executive director of California Alliance to Advance Nursing Home Care, was apparently in an optimistic mood.<br/>  <br/> Carlson is a former executive with the Arkansas–based...

JAMIE COURT: The Quaid Factor

April 2, 2008  ·  Jamie Court

<p> Can Dennis Quaid's fight to make sense of his twin babies' harrowing ordeal at Cedars Sinai change the face of medicine? I'm betting on Quaid and his family's <a href="http://www.thequaidfoundation.org/">new foundation.</a> </p> <p> Q...</p>