Healthcare

West Zone: California Orders MedMal Cuts

September 8, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Insurance Chronicle</p> <p>The ruling was in response to the first-ever consumer group challenge to a medical malpractice insurance rate hike request, brought by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR), a California nonprofit organization.</p>

Rolling back; Calif. limits malpractice insurer’s rate hike

September 8, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Modern Healthcare</p> <p>Heller called the rollback a tribute to Proposition 103, a 15-year-old initiative that requires insurance companies to justify any premium increases with the state insurance commissioner while providing consumers with the right to challenge rate increases</p>

NO CURE: Prop. 12 is a misdiagnosis for Texas Constitution

September 7, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Houston Chronicle</p> <p>A $250,000 cap was instituted in California in 1975. However, malpractice rates continued to rise. They went up 450 percent over the next 13 years, according to the Los Angeles-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Everybody at risk – Uninsured in W.Va.

September 7, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Government gets big drug discounts you can't get: 50 to 4,000% off - VA prices make Canada look expensive</h3><p class="source">Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)</p> <p>"Veterans deserve low prices, but surely, the government can do a better job of regulating the price for everybody else. All consumers deserve lower prices.", said Jerry Flanagan of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Care worker charged with sexual battery on two hospital patients;

September 6, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Police say others may have been attacked while being prepared for surgery.</h3><p class="source">The Sacramento Bee</p> <p>"People don't always report it or they don't know they're victimized. It's far more common with doctors than hospital workers, and it doesn't occur in hospitals as much as in examination rooms," said Court, author of the book, "Making a Killing."</p>

Garamendi Cuts Malpractice Insurance Hike;

September 4, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The rate increase will be 9.9%. The insurer had requested 15.6%.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The consumer group that caused the hearings by appealing the rate increase, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the reduction in the rate increase means a $16 million overall savings for physicians in 2003</p>

Letter to Senator John Burton Re: Universal Health Care for CA

September 3, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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Problems with Medical Malpractice Suits

August 7, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">NBC-TV Today Show</p> <p>Jamie Court (FTCR): For health care, it's very important that we stand for this proposition that human life is priceless.</p>

Problems with Medical Malpractice Suits

August 7, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">NBC-TV Today Show</p> <p>Jamie Court (FTCR): For health care, it's very important that we stand for this proposition that human life is priceless.</p>

The unkindest cut : More patients and doctors avoid unnecessary surgery

August 5, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA)</p> <p>Most overdone surgeries, Jamie Court of FTCR said, are "high-ticket items with the biggest price tags for the doctors and chains." His assessment echoes various studies that have reported similar findings.</p>

Ensuring better health?

August 5, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Insurance companies enlist disease-management firms to assist chronically ill and trim costs, but some docs are skeptical</h3><p class="source">The Tennessean</p> <p>Jerry Flanagan of FTCR, a California-based advocacy group, says the information insurers collect through disease-management programs might be used as an excuse to deny people coverage if they were to try to change plans.</p>

Kaiser aims bonuses at group quality, satisfaction levels, individual longevity.

August 1, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Physician Compensation Report</p> <p>Pursuant to a January 2003 settlement of a lawsuit filed by the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, seeking disclosure of physician incentives, Kaiser's national office in Oakland, Calif., released information in July</p>