Oil Spill Commission Abandons Common Sense
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Insurance
Insurance news, investigations, and reform — auto, home, and health insurance rates, claims denials, and industry accountability.
A ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ Card For the Insurance Industry – Part 2
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The following op-ed (Part 2) by Harvey Rosenfield, the founder of Consumer Watchdog and the author of Proposition 103, was published in The Daily Journal of Los Angeles on Monday, November 16, 2010. (Read Part 1 <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/story/get-out-jail-free-card-insurance-industry-part-1">here</a>.)<br />
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A ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ Card for the Insurance Industry – Part 1
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The following op-ed (Part 1) by Harvey Rosenfield, the founder of Consumer Watchdog and the author of Proposition 103, was published in The Daily Journal of Los Angeles on Monday, November 15, 2010. Part 2 will be published on November 16, 2010.<br />
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Can the California Insurance Commissioner or one of his staff authorize an insurance company to break the law, so that the company is immune from a civil suit for illegal surcharges?<br />
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HHS Pressed To Resist Health Insurance Lobbying
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Health insurance industry efforts to lobby for weaker federal regulations should be strongly resisted, a consumer advocacy group warned this week.</p>
Will Massachusetts Give Health Insurance Industry the Boot?
<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-1853" align="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/images_singlepayer-chart.png" width="60%" />Massachusetts was the pioneer in mandatory health insurance, requiring its citizens to buy insurance as a quid quo pro for private insurance companies' agreement to sell policies to all applicants, not just the healthiest. More people are covered now, but it hasn't cut the price of health insurance or saved the state any money.
Money Isn’t Everything
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The following editorial was published on <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-money-20101107,0,7245882.story">Sunday, November 7, 2010 in the Los Angeles Times</a>:<br />
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As Whitman's loss proved, campaign spending can be a double-edged sword.<br />
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California, do it: Challenge the health insurance industry
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<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-1846" align="right" height="160" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/images_public_option_cartoon_0.png" width="250" />California had a different election from the rest of the U.S. It provides a unique opportunity to improve on, rather than spew about repealing, the federal health reform.</p>
Connecticut Insurance Commissioner to Resign After Dust-Ups with Advocacy, Auto Body Groups
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HARTFORD, CT -- Just days after a consumer advocacy group called for Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas R. Sullivan to step down for approving large premium rate increases since passage of the federal health care reform law, Sullivan notified Gov. Jodi M. Rell that he will resign from the post Nov. 12.<br />
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Insurance ‘Death Spirals’ Remain Full Of Life
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<strong>State seems at a loss to keep companies from closing plans, which drives up premiums</strong></h3>
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Nicholas Peppler, Fort Wayne, was healthy and only 23 years old, but he appeared to be in the beginning of a death spiral.<br />
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A health insurance death spiral, that is.<br />
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The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield policy he had purchased was being closed to new enrollees in 2009, a common practice that critics say drives up costs and forces people into the ranks of the uninsured.<br />
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State Insurance Commissioner Race Unusually Heated
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The governor's race is getting more attention, but the campaign for state insurance commissioner might have higher stakes, as federal health care reform barrels toward California.</p>
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<span>"From a pocketbook perspective, the insurance commissioner's race has more of an impact on the daily lives of Californians than any other race," said Doug Heller, director of Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan advocacy group in Santa Monica. "The insurance commissioner is often consumers' first and only line of defense against the insurance industry." </span></p>
Controversy In Insurance Commissioner Race
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LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The races for governor and senator have been getting most of the attention this election cycle. But there's a controversy in the state insurance commissioner's race. It has to do with money, and who's funding the campaigns.</p>
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California's insurance commissioner is responsible for regulating the insurance industry and protecting consumers. Two state assemblymen are battling for the job. But what's making headlines is not their credentials, but how much money is being spent and who's spending it.</p>
Is health regulation battle worth it?
<p>The first major set of health reform regulations, governing the "medical loss ratio," resembles the victim of a Mob kneecapping--hobbled but surviving--after a corporate lobbying onslaught. And <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2010/10/26/its-not-over-consumer-groups-still-worried-about-insurance-rules/">the fight is not yet over.</a> It's just moved from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to the White House. Which raises the question: Given the overwhelming lobbyist power of insurance companies, is this regulatory battle of a thousand cuts worth pursuing?