Healthcare

Kaiser probed again;

July 23, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>More patient dumping alleged in Los Angeles area</h3><p class="source">Modern Healthcare</p> <p>Patient advocates said it's unclear whether the issue is isolated to the Los Angeles area or is part of a nationwide problem because there's no central authority tracking anecdotal incidents. "Given the pressures we're dealing with in the health care system, this is the kind of practice you'd expect to see everywhere,'' said Jerry Flanagan, a patient advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica, Calif. "But its hard to monitor.''</p>

WHEN INSURANCE WON’T PAY

July 18, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">ABC-TV News - GOOD MORNING AMERICA</p> <p>Tarceva is FDA-approved for other cancers. But her insurer, a company that made $2.3 billion in profit last year, said it hadn't been proven effective for her disease. Health care watchdog Jerry Flanagan is critical of this insurance industry practice. JERRY FLANAGAN (FTCR): Insurance companies broadly look at ways to deny coverage. One of their favorite strategies is to call the treatment experimental so that they can deny access and keep the premiums and profits for themselves.</p>

Blue Cross practices probed by regulators

July 18, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>"Blue Cross has been treating California like an ATM machine. The regulators need to step in and get the money back," said Jerry Flanagan, spokesman for the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Medical Loss Ratios Debated Under State Health-Reform Efforts

July 17, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">BestWire</p> <p>"That's why an 85% medical loss ratio is "meaningless," said Jerry Flanagan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, based in Santa Monica, Calif. In California, almost all of the large insurers are for-profit, including Blue Cross, which also is among the most profitable, he said. Legislation requiring individuals to buy coverage from private, for-profit insurers with no cap on what the health insurers can charge is "a recipe for gouging," Flanagan said.</p>

Complaints Spark State Hearing On Blue Cross

July 11, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Regulators want to see whether the healthcare firm is adhering to an accord with California.</h3> <p> "The Department of Managed Health Care has been turning up the heat on insurers that have been illegally canceling coverage and are profiting as a result," said Jerry Flanagan, a patient advocate with the Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights. "It's totally appropriate that they should have to explain their actions in a public hearing." </p>

Insurance rewards healthy workers

July 11, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">USA TODAY</p> <p>Because the UnitedHealth program rewards actual results, rather than just efforts to be healthier, the policies are raising concern among some advocates. "This is turning health care into a police state," says Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, an advocacy group in Los Angeles. "If you want people to live healthier lives, you need to educate them and make it safe for them to seek medical treatment, without fear of financial penalties."</p>

Health Care Terror

July 9, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The New York Times</p> <p>The only things standing in the way of universal health care are the fear-mongering and influence-buying of interest groups. If we can't overcome those forces here, there's not much hope for America's future.</p>

HEALTH PLAN’S BENEFITS AT ISSUE;

July 8, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>MEDICARE OPTION SPARKS DEBATE ON STATE'S NEEDIEST</h3><p class="source">Hartford Courant (Connecticut)</p> <p>Offering Medicare Advantage makes good business sense for private insurance companies, because the companies with contracts are assured taxpayer dollars, says Jerry Flanagan with FTCR. Companies selling Medicare Advantage are paid a flat fee for every client under their contract regardless of the clients' needs. Because the Medicare Advantage plans tend to pay health care providers less, Flanagan said, the providers in turn are not able to keep as many doctors on staff or provide as many services. Seniors and disabled people then wind up waiting longer to see a doctor, he said.</p>

How a hospital death became a cause celebre;

June 15, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A tape and two 911 calls cast light on a case that might've been ignored.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>"The incident embodies the frustration that Americans feel with the waits at hospitals, with the negligence at hospitals," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "Everybody one day visits the emergency room."</p>

Stern Reprimand;

June 13, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>SEIU members in Northern California challenge the national boss over his collaboration with employers</h3><p class="source">SF Weekly (California)</p> <p>Jaime Court president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, likened Roselli to Marcus Junius Brutus, who took a leading role in the assassination of the dictator of Rome. "This is a hopeful sign. And let's hope Brutus succeeds," Court said "and the Caesar changes his ways and starts to feel the boot in his butt. Stern demands this Trotskyite kind of loyalty regardless of how popular his policies are. This is a democratic challenge based on democratic principles. Stern can ignore consumer advocates. He can ignore patient advocates. But when criticism comes from within one of the strongest unions of California, he's either going to have to change his business model, or get out of some of the businesses he wanted to control."</p>

HIGHMARK OPENS ITS COFFERS FOR AD, MARKETING EXPENSES;

June 10, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania) </p> <p>"One of the chief reasons for health corporations or insurance companies to advertise is to cherry pick the market," said Judy Dugan, research director for the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, which trades in health-care and insurance industry reform. "They design their advertising to appeal to the healthiest and most active customers," which drives down their own expenses, she claimed.</p>

Health reformers to piggyback on ‘Sicko’;

May 27, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Michael Moore's blast at medical care is hitting as U.S. seems ripe for changes</h3><p class="source">San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>"From the perspective of the health care reform movement, a high-profile representation of what patients commonly experience at the hands of insurers certainly adds momentum to the effort for true reform, both in California and across the country," said Jerry Flanagan, health advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, based in Santa Monica.</p>