Healthcare

Mandate not so mandatory

February 27, 2008  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> Interesting <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hacker26feb26,0,3044897.story">op-ed in the LA Times</a> yesterday from one of the architects of the Clinton and Obama health plans. Jacob Hacker, a man who... </p>

Hospitals sock it to the uninsured, study says

February 5, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>Consumer advocates agreed that uninsured pay high hospital rates, but they pointed out some limits to the study. "What we're not getting here is information about the utilization and quality of care those people are receiving," said Jerry Flanagan, health policy advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "Just because the uninsured are paying a higher level of charges doesn't mean they're getting the same level of care."</p>

Dunn Defends Plan for Doctors in Rehab

January 25, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

SACRAMENTO, CA -- To have earned a title like "The Man Who Cracked Enron," Joe Dunn must be persistent. <p> So it's no surprise that the former Orange County senator is still trying to save the state's diversion program, which...</p>

Ronald Norton – Worcester, Massachusetts

January 18, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Mandatory Private Insurance Is Unaffordable</h3>

Malpractice Law May Deny Justice

December 29, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Lawyers, citing an award limit, often won't take medical injury suits.</strong> <p> Dave Stewart's 72-year-old mother went to Stanford University Medical Center for double knee-replacement surgery in April. Four days later, she was...</p>

Family suing Cigna after company refuses to pay for liver transplant, causing patient to die

December 21, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">CBS-TV Evening News (6:30 PM EST)</p> <p>JOHN BLACKSTONE reporting: As 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan lay dying in the hospital, friends and nurses marched on the insurance company that had denied her a liver transplant. The company, Cigna, called the transplant experimental, not covered. Mr. JAMIE COURT (Consumer Watchdog): Insurers will call anything experimental if its got a six figure price tag.</p>

Delay in healthcare vote urged;

December 16, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Labor and legislators haven't had time to vet the Nunez-backed plan, a union group says.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Jerry Flanagan, the healthcare advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit organization, said SEIU's organizing drive also stood to gain from the bill. He said one provision would allow retail clinics such as ones that Wal-Mart wants to establish to be staffed with medical assistants without a physician present.</p>

The wrong way to reform term limits; There’s a reason special interests are bankrolling Proposition 93.

December 12, 2007  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>California's elected officials have failed this year to take care of any pressing state problems -- except their own. No healthcare reform. No prison reform. No solution to the multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Instead, this year's principal public policy result is a ballot measure to extend legislators' current terms in office. The biggest beneficiaries are the most powerful: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate leader Don Perata, who otherwise would be forced out of office next year by term limits.</p>

The wrong way to reform term limits; There’s a reason special interests are bankrolling Proposition 93.

December 12, 2007  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>California's elected officials have failed this year to take care of any pressing state problems -- except their own. No healthcare reform. No prison reform. No solution to the multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Instead, this year's principal public policy result is a ballot measure to extend legislators' current terms in office. The biggest beneficiaries are the most powerful: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate leader Don Perata, who otherwise would be forced out of office next year by term limits.</p>

Politics, business as usual in health proposals?

December 4, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Candidates' plans to bring little reform, don't address costs, analysts say</h3><p class="source">CBS MarketWatch.com</p> <p>FTCR's Jerry Flanagan points out, however, that the double-digit rate increases by health insurers far exceeds the inflationary rate for doctors and hospitals, which has been estimated at 4% to 6% a year. Flanagan adds that insurers' overhead is out of whack, pointing out it runs roughly 20% to 25%, while overhead under the Medicare program is roughly 3%. And it will only get tougher to clamp down on runaway costs as merger activity is leaving the market with fewer insurers, Flanagan says. </p>

Workers defend hospital labor costs

December 3, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Santa Cruz Sentinel</p> <p>John Simpson, of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Los Angeles, agreed. Nurses, whose profession was once associated with lower wages, are finally making what they are worth, he said. "That they need to be able to be paid well enough to live where they work is a very sound argument," Simpson said. "I think that's, in fact, absolutely essential to making sure that there's quality health care for the people of California."</p>

Regulators aim to curb healthcare rescissions;

October 25, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Rules would have firms check applicants' fitness before issuing policies.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights had petitioned the agencies for rules against rescissions and said the first draft was disappointing. Spokesman Jerry Flanagan said that to protect consumers, regulators must step in and require that insurers prove policyholder misconduct before allowing a company to carry out a cancellation. "They've restated the law here fairly well, but that's not the point," Flanagan said. "They are supposed to establish a process for making sure that the cancellations are fair and patients are protected."</p>