Letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Re: California Health Care Costs
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Healthcare
Healthcare and patient-safety coverage — medical negligence, prescription drug prices, and your right to quality, affordable care.
In Medicaid, Private HMOs Take a Big, and Profitable, Role;
<h3>Managing Care for the Poor, They Prosper by Cutting Beleaguered States' Costs</h3><p class="source">The Wall Street Journal</p>
<p>Are Medicaid HMOs slashing necessary care to achieve cost savings and raise profits? Yes, says Jerry Flanagan, health-care policy director of a California group that wants to stop state governments from moving Medicaid beneficiaries into private managed care. "What's good for shareholders is bad for patients," he says. "What's really happening is we're giving less money for far, far fewer services."</p>
New drug price tag: $1.2 billion
<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune (California)</p>
<p>Jerry Flanagan, health care policy director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, dismissed the Tufts report's drug industry-generated "fuzzy numbers." Such reports are part of a "desperate strategy" by the biotech industry to insulate itself from reforms when the new Congress convenes in January, he said.</p>
Agency Agrees to Review Human Stem Cell Patents
<p class="source">The New York Times</p>
<p>In their request for a re-examination, the consumer group FTCR and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) said Dr. Thomson's work did not deserve patents because three scientific papers by others and one previous patent had already laid out how to derive embryonic stem cells in various animals including mice, pigs and sheep.</p>
Some health care info options if you need help
<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune (California)</p>
<p>The California Patient's Guide</b> summarizes health-care rights and remedies available to all residents of the state. The guide was prepared by the nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, with help from the California departments of Consumer Affairs and Managed Health Care. <a href="http://www.calpatientguide.org">www.calpatientguide.org</a>.</p>
Patent office to re-evaluate key stem cell patents
<p class="source">East Bay Business Times (California)</p>
<p>The Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights along with the Public Patent Foundation petitioned have called the patents "overreaching" and said they are impeding scientific progress and driving vital research overseas.</p>
Blue Cross Faces Fine for Voiding Policy;
<h3>The $200,000 penalty is the first in a continuing probe of allegations that the insurer illegally dumped sick patients.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p>
<p>Consumer advocates said the fine was a step in the right direction but too small to compel a company as large and profitable as Blue Cross to make meaningful changes. "They are making so much money off these rescissions that $200,000 is just the cost of doing business," said Jerry Flanagan, a patient advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica.</p>
Sick but Insured? Think Again;
<h3>Lawsuits accuse insurance companies of retroactively dumping families that rack up large bills. Firms defend their policies, but the state is investigating.</h3>
<p class="source">
The Los Angeles Times
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Companies selling individual coverage in California can, and do, reject applicants for everything from asthma to athlete's foot. These so-called underwriting guidelines allow the companies to pass up a significant portion of the population -- the people most likely to use medical services -- or charge them higher premiums. In the individual market, "the deck is really stacked in favor of the companies," said Jerry Flanagan, a healthcare advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "They are cash cows."
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Controversy Over Stem Cell Committee
<p class="source">ABC7 KGO-TV SF</p>
<p>John Simpson, Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights: "The voters enacted law and they expect the law to be followed as they enacted it, and while he may be a wonderful gentleman, he clearly has no medical background and should step down."</p>
Advocacy group’s game takes HMO whacking to new level;
<h3>Who was that caped RN? It's Nurse Avenger!</h3><p class="source">Modern Healthcare</p>
<p>To advance to the next round, players must obliterate the Blue Cross Mega Boss, a less-than-subtle allusion to Blue Cross of California, a unit of national giant WellPoint and the state's "big bully on the block,'' says Jerry Flanagan, an advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>
“Nurse avenger” joins Calif. health battle
<p class="source">UPI - United Press International</p>
<p>The goal of the game is to get 20-somethings, who have the highest rate of uninsurance in the state, to take notice of the debate taking place in the legislature, foundation spokesman Jerry Flanagan said.</p>
Kaiser going consumer-driven;
<h3>Largest HMO gearing up for HSAs, expansion</h3><p class="source">Modern Healthcare</p>
<p>Some consumer advocacy groups, however, dismissed the size of the fine as a mere slap on the wrist. "This doesn't send a message to Kaiser,'' said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "Kaiser probably spends a couple million on coffee every year.'' Indeed, Kaiser is on track to post its fourth straight year of annual profits totaling $1 billion or more, industry analysts said.</p>