Insurance

Insurance Ballot Fight Warms Up In Court

March 13, 2010  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

<p> Lawsuits ensued over just how that impact would be described in the voter pamphlets, landing all three parties in court: Attoney General Jerry Brown, Harvey Rosenfield and the backers of Proposition 17. Brown, for instance, insisted on language saying the initiative "will allow insurance companies to increase cost of insurance to drivers who do not have a history of continuous insurance coverage." Backers of Proposition 17 wanted that language stricken, but the judge disagreed. </p>

Judges Review Language Of State Ballot Measures

March 13, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>A teachers union's effort to change wording in Prop. 14, which would allow open primaries, was largely rejected. Measures on car insurance and public financing got only minimal adjustments.</strong><br /> <br /> "All Proposition 17 does is allow people to take it with them when they move to a new insurance company and get the lower rate," argued Richard Martland, an attorney for the supporters. But Consumer Watchdog founder Harvey Rosenfield said the measure is a thinly disguised attempt by Mercury to be allowed to charge higher rates for those it doesn't want to insure. Rosenfield's attorney, Fredric Woocher, said the proposition is being misleadingly cast as an opportunity for drivers to retain their loyalty discounts even if they switch insurers. "You can't take it with you," Woocher said. "You are taking away the one thing that makes persistency persistent. It would be like taking a good student discount and extending it to people who fail."

Judge Rules On Proposition 17 Ballot Measure

March 12, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Consumer Watchdog argues Prop 17 also allows insurance companies to charge a severe penalty to customers who do not have a history of coverage, therefore, the voter pamphlet should say the initiative will raise rates. “It allows insurance companies to surcharge people just because they didn’t have previous insurance, maybe they didn’t even have a car, or they were in the military serving stateside, or they missed a single payment on their insurance,” said Harvey Rosenfield with Consumer Watchdog. </p>

Assembly Bill Would Slash Coverage Mandates For Health Insurers

March 11, 2010  ·  Jerry Flanagan

Modesto Assemblyman Tom Berryhill (R) has introduced a bill that would allow insurers to drop some four-dozen coverage mandates. These include overnight hospital stays for new mothers. Jerry Flanagan is with the non-profit <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org//">Consumer Watchdog</a>. "If you take those laws away, insurance companies can still charge as much as they want, but provide far less health care," Flanagan argues. "That's really good for the insurance company, because they can keep more of our money for themselves; it's the last thing you want to do for patients."

Insurance rate curbs continue to gain steam

March 11, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> The latest round of exorbitant health insurance rate increases nationally has helped more and more people recognize what Consumer Watchdog has been arguing for the last year: Congress cannot require all Americans to purchase insurance from the for-profit insurance industry without real oversight of what they charge ...</p>

Health insurance premium curbs are catching on

March 11, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Consumer Watchdog's <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=33144">calls for tough and open health insurance rate regulation </a>are being echoed and amplified. The latest instance is in Connecticut, the home state of insurance companies, where Attorney General Earl Blumenthal <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=33144">recently proposed major reforms </a>that would require the state to review and reject, modify or allow a rate change before it goes into effect. No more shrugging and letting it happen without a public review. </p>

California Group Urges National Freeze On Health Insurance Rates

March 10, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

President Obama should include a provision freezing health insurance rates in the package of revisions Democrats are drafting for the Senate-passed health care overhaul bill (HR 3590), a California-based consumer group said Wednesday. Other provisions that the Consumer Watchdog group wants to see included are a requirement that state regulators approve rate increases before they go into effect, and that federal grants be made available to states for developing these "prior approval" regulations. "Given the audacity of health insurance rate increases last year and this year, and with the economy in deep recession, only federal legislation can curb the spiral of unaffordability," said Carmen Balber, the Washington director for the group.

Put corporate political spending to a vote

March 10, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> When the US Supreme Court decided to allow corporations to spend money directly on campaign advertising, they opened the floodgates to excessive spending by companies to change the outcome of elections. The long-term solution is a... </p>

Calif. Regulators Defend Dropped Insurance Deals

March 10, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) ― State insurance regulators on Wednesday defended their actions against health insurers after a report showed few consumers who complained that their coverage was canceled after they took ill actually benefited from state-negotiated settlements. The settlements may not have appealed to many consumers because they were "very stilted towards insurance companies," said Jerry Flanagan, a health advocate for Consumer Watchdog. Consumers weren't allowed to hire lawyers for arbitration, and had to prove all their past medical bills were "medically necessary, which is a hard legal standard to meet" without a lawyer's help. Additionally, the coverage that was offered through arbitration was usually a policy with a lower benefit than the wrongfully rescinded policy, said Flanagan.

Profiting From Collusion: Why Californians Can’t Afford Health Insurance

March 10, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

California's Consumer Watchdog group is suing Anthem Blue Cross after they raised health care insurance premiums 39 percent, but the company isn't budging. Meanwhile Goldman Sachs recommended buying health insurance company stock because competition is decreasing and prices are going up. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College estimates that "the typical married couple at age 65 should expect to spend" a whopping $197,000 on uninsured medical expenses. Obama urges action on a watered-down health care bill, but the Republicans and conservative Democrats just say no and collect money from the private health care lobby. Will we continue to tolerate skyrocketing health care costs?

Slide show features companies Google calls competition

March 9, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

I recently <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporateering/articles/?storyId=33077" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delved into Google's 10-K filing</a> covering 2009 with the <a href="http://sec.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Securities and Exchange...</a>

The no. 1 cure for Anthem Blue Cross greed: Here’s the plan, from the expert

March 9, 2010  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

Harvey Rosenfield, the founder of Consumer Watchdog and the author of California's landmark insurance regulation, is the original expert on making insurance companies friendlier to consumers. So when he outlines a plan to make health insurance more affordable--and combat price spikes like the recent 39% annual increase by Anthem Blue Cross--he's got 20 years in the trenches making insurance companies toe the line, to back him up.