Healthcare

CIRM names new interim president

August 8, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">San Francisco Business Times</p> <p>John Simpson, stem cell project director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said Murphy will be paid $300,000 in six $50,000 installments. His job will run through March 4.</p>

Health care group fears it’s being left behind in grants

August 6, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">East Bay Business Times (California)</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights' Jerry Flanagan says his biggest concern is that money be used to increase health-care access, not insurer profits. "The insurers in the past have demanded return on their investment and this limits that areas where the money can be contributed," he said. "There are probably lot of needs-assessed health-care access issues that may not be an investment to the company."</p>

She’s hip to health insurance reform

August 1, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Jerry Flanagan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is drafting an initiative that would give voters a chance to do what legislators don't have the stomach for, despite growing, multibillion-dollar profits by the insurance industry and consumer outrage. The initiative calls for a 20% rollback of health insurance rates and regulation of future increases. It would bar insurance companies from refusing to sell policies based on a person's health, something that's already law in nine other states. And it would phase in universal care by offering all residents access to a public insurance pool, forcing private companies to lower their rates to stay competitive.</p>

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>