Healthcare

Stem cell therapy: How to set its cost?

February 10, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A panel votes today on what the lowest price really means.</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>"I'm not comfortable that what they're calling for is the lowest price," said John Simpson, stem cell coordinator for the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Dana & Doug Christensen

January 26, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Fake Health Insurance Left Dana Widowed With $450K In Unpaid Bills</h3>

Get the Pork Out of Health Insurance

January 2, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<P><a href="/healthcare/PigPeople"><center><b></b></center> <IMG hspace="3" src="/images/ppo_anim_click.gif" vspace="3" border="0" width="150" height="112" align="right"></a> <P>Health insurance premiums are increasing 250% faster...</P> </a> </P>

Watch the PBS’ NOW Show on Junk Health Care, ¿Payment Due,” Featuring Dana Christensen and FTCR Advocates

January 2, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<center><h2><a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/nw/?postId=6227">Read the transcript of the program.</a></center> <br><br><center>View a ...</center> </br> </br> </center>

Arbitrary Rights?

December 28, 2005  ·  Jamie Court

<h3>Use of mandatory, binding arbitration clauses</h3><p class="source">Marketplace Morning Report (MN Public Radio)</p> <p>So a company that's mischarged thousands of consumers, and arbitrated with dozens of them, can hide the evidence from the next consumer who takes the company on over the same problem. So what do you do? Cross the arbitration clause out of the contract and save a copy of the change for your records. That's what many lawyers who know better do. Or send a letter to the company or doctor you've just signed up with afterward saying you do not agree to the arbitration clause.</p>

TRAUMATIC ROADBLOCKS: The Cost of Being Poor

December 23, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia)</p> <p>"What (insurance companies) do is target urban areas and raise the rates," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based watchdog group. "It's a problem. It's led to rampant discrimination in the insurance industry."</p>

Health-care merger endorsed;

December 20, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>UnitedHealth's takeover of PacifiCare would be the second-biggest merger ever in the hospital managed care industry</h3><p class="source">Monterey County Herald (California)</p> <p>The California Medical Association and some consumer groups opposed the deal, contending it does nothing for the consumer. "This commissioner (Garamendi) is selling the public a bag of goods that have yet to prove valuable,'' said Jamie Court, president of the consumer group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

State OKs Acquisition of PacifiCare;

December 20, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Buyer UnitedHealth will commit $200 million to improve services for the poor as part of the deal.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica, though supportive of Garamendi's efforts to get insurers to put money into poor communities, accused WellPoint on Monday of dragging its feet on its investment promises.</p>

In the Dark on Medical Pricing;

December 12, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Consumers often aren't getting the information they need to find the best healthcare deal.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>"In the healthcare market, unlike the mall, not all consumers are created equal," said Jamie Court, head of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica advocacy group. "Often the consumers who need services the most have the least ability to shop."</p>

House-call hopes;

December 8, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A Medicare pilot program aims to cut medical costs and visits to the hospital</h3><p class="source">The Orange County Register</p> <p>Patient advocates praised the voluntary program but also cautioned that patients should receive the care they need, even if it's expensive. "If the appropriate treatment is to keep them out of the hospital, that's fine," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. But he added that finance should take a back seat to health. "The incentive should be to treat the person."</p>

False Accounting: How Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies Inflate Losses to Justify Sudden Surges in Rates and Tort Reform

December 7, 2005  ·  Jamie Court

In this study, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR)1 reviews the loss projections of medical malpractice insurance companies, beginning with the “insurance crisis”...

Frist votes aid HCA’s business interests;

December 4, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Review of 10 years in Senate shows pattern of favoring firm</h3><p class="source">The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee)</p> <p>Frist has said he gave the order this summer to sell his shares in HCA to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, but Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate with the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, said Frist's decision failed to ease her concerns. She said, "The senator is incapable of totally erasing his ties to that company because his father and brother founded it and because the family fortune is tied up in HCA stock."</p>