Insurance

Tossing stuff overboard in the Senate

December 8, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The end game of the health reform bill in the Senate, with furious bargaining inside the Democratic Party, looks a lot like moving out of a house you've lived in for 20 years: As the moving truck pulls up, stuff you thought you couldn't live without ends up in the trash </p>

Cowards in suits

December 8, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The Senate took up the right to abortion in the health reform debate today, with a proposal by Sen. Ben Nelson of Colorado to mirror the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120254656">punitive restrictions</a> in the House version. Except for Nelson, who was a rabidly anti-choice governor, not one senator had the guts to say why he intends to vote for the amendment. Even Nelson just falsely called it no worse than the status quo. Total gray-suited cowards.  </p>

Chicken Little invades Congress

December 4, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The sky is falling, said Chicken Little, and so say the health reform critics in the Senate. They are fearmongering relentlessly to kill health care reform. The health insurance conglomerates feeding them their lines are cackling with glee offstage. Listening to this poultry farm, day after day, is galling. The same conservatives who spent years bashing Medicare spending are now all but sobbing at the podium as they "defend" Medicare. </p>

US House Committee Sends Insurance Office Bill To The Floor

December 2, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> WASHINGTON, D.C. --The U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee unanimously voted to approve a bill forming a federal insurance office, sending the legislation to the House floor for final consideration. Consumer Watchdog took issue with the office's limited authority to pre-empt some state authority over insurance. "This bill is part of the insurance industry's ongoing push to deregulate insurance by limiting state regulators' authority and is sure to weaken consumer protection," said Carmen Balber, Washington director for the group, in a statement. </p>

Google’s Book-Scan Deal Is Not Solid Yet

November 28, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Google Inc.'s settlement with authors and publishers over the digital scanning of books got a preliminary approval from a federal judge last week, but the controversy may be far from over. In fact, legal experts and industry observers who have been closely following the case believe the fight over Google's ambitious book-scanning efforts is just starting all over again.<br />

Your Health Care Dollars at Work, Paying for Blue Cross ‘Robocalls’

November 25, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> Ok, we already know that <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=31128">United HealthCare, Anthem/Wellpont and other</a> insurance conglomerates are using your health insurance premiums to "help" their employees lobby Congress against consumer-friendly health reforms. Now we find Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/nc_health_insurer_being_probed_for_campaign_agains.php#more">using your premium dollars </a>in an even more irritating and likely illegal way: political robocalls against health reform, probably at dinnertime. </p>

Disabled Turn To State For Help, But State Turns Them Away

November 20, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

With lawmakers close to passing a health care overhaul plan, the issue of regulating workplace benefits remains vital because the proposals preserve the current employer-provided system without added legal remedies to patients. Jamie Court, president of Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, said advocacy groups like his plan to push ERISA reform if health reform includes an insurance mandate. "Once you tell Americans they have to contribute toward a policy, then the government has an absolute duty to ensure the policy is worth the paper its written on," Court said.

Wellpoint’s fake-ish numbers

November 19, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> Health insurance conglomerate Anthem Wellpoint recently tried to<a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/Health_insurers_hope_third_times_the_charm_on_cost_reports.html"> pawn off in Congress</a> an internal analysis "proving" that health reform would raise health insurance rates 100% or more for many people. A look deeper into the company's <a href="http://wellpoint.com/newsroom/stats_facts.asp">own data</a> shows just how twisted Wellpoint's math is. </p>

California’s 1988 Insurance Battle Could See 2010 Reprise

November 18, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Mercury General, a large auto insurer, wants to legalize premium discounts tolongtime customers and got a bill to that effect passed by the Legislature six years ago, but the law was overturned by the courts as violative of Proposition 103. Since then, Mercury has played a cat-and-mouse game with its foes in the lawyer-backed consumer protection field. Mercury has another ballot measure in the works, and Consumer Watchdog, the group that sponsored Proposition 103, claims that Attorney General Jerry Brown gave it a sweetheart official title. It's also threatening what some have called "nuclear war" with a rival measure attacking insurers' practices. </p>

California Department of Insurance Notice of Noncompliance v. Mercury Insurance Company

November 18, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> <em><strong>California Department of Insurance Notice of Noncompliance v. Mercury Insurance Company</strong></em> <br/> No. NC-03027545<br/> <br/> <em>Consumer Watchdog Joins Insurance Commissioner's Complaint Against...</em> </p>

Donabedian v Mercury Insurance Company

November 18, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Donabedian v Mercury Insurance Company</strong> <p> Los Angeles Superior Court No. BC249019<br /> Court of Appeal: <em><strong>Donabedian v. Mercury Insurance Company</strong></em> (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 968 </p> <p> Consumer Watchdog Protects Public and Voters in Decade-Long Battle Against Overcharges by Mercury Insurance Company </p>

Report: UnitedHealth Urges Employees To Lobby Senate, Oppose Reform

November 17, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

“No United HealthCare employee would modify the lobbying letter to favor Medicare-for-All, or even a modest public option, knowing that his or her managers may be reading that e-mail,” said Judy Dugan, research director for Consumer Watchdog, in a statement. “They wouldn’t dare to speak against the company position unless they’ve already got a new job lined up.”