Insurance

Dated Medical Malpractice Law Comes Under Scrutiny

September 21, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Wayne Volkmuth learned what a "250 case" was while conducting research shortly after the loss of his 7-year-old son, Ryan, who died three years ago during a dental procedure at a Palo Alto clinic. The "250" refers to $250,000, the most Volkmuth could recover in a medical malpractice claim over his disabled son's death, a limit set 34 years ago by California's landmark medical malpractice law. It's also the reason his case was turned down by most of the dozen medical malpractice attorneys he and his wife consulted. Patients and families who struggle to get an attorney to represent them contend the law stands in the way of justice. "It's really a nightmare if you're an injured patient, or a patient's family member, and don't have large medical bills or large wage losses," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica. "There is no justice." </p>

Rationing And Restricting Health Care?

September 21, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> RACHEL MADDOW, HOST: ... An advocacy group called Consumer Watchdog on Friday released a sheet of internal underwriting guidelines from the industry that may clear just how sweet the deal has been for companies in the current system and how bad that system has been for those of us trying to use it to get our health care needs met. BlueCross of California guidelines from 2004, for example, said you could be disqualified from health coverage in certain circumstances if you had varicose veins. </p>

Acne, Pregnancy Among Disqualifying Conditions

September 20, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

A proposal to make preexisting health conditions irrelevant in the sale of insurance policies could help not just the seriously ill, but also people who might consider themselves healthy, documents released Friday by a California-based advocacy group illustrate. Health insurers have issued guidelines saying they could deny coverage to people suffering from such conditions as acne, hemorrhoids and bunions. One big insurer refused to issue individual policies to police officers and firefighters, along with people in other hazardous occupations. Some treated pregnancy or the intention to adopt as disqualifying. <br />

Health Care Penalty

September 17, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> LOU DOBBS, HOST: As promised Senator Max Baucus released his controversial health care proposal. It is the last of five to emerge from Congress and like each of them the senator's $856 billion proposal would require every American to have health insurance or face thousands of dollars in fines for not doing so. </p> <p> CARMEN BALBER, CONSUMER WATCHDOG: His plan has suggested that Americans could be required to spend 20 percent, nearly 20 percent of their income on health insurance. That's simply unaffordable for a family who's around 400 percent of the poverty line struggling to pay their bills let alone pay for health insurance. </p>

Health insurance stocks zoom; Patients kicked to the curb

September 16, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> A tip of the hat to the Center for American Progress, which noticed that <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/16/stocks-baucus/">health insurance company stocks shot up today</a> as the Senate's new national health reform proposal eliminated any publicly financed alternative to their for-profit model. At the same time, families were <a href="http://domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2589">telling a House subcommittee</a> about their demoralizing struggles with focused, purposeful insurance company delays and denials of life-saving treatments. </p> <p>   </p>

Health Care Premiums Rise 5% For Year — Increase Is 131% For Decade

September 16, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> The average family premium for health insurance offered through an employer surpassed the $13,000 mark this year, and the cost of coverage continues to outpace increases in wages and inflation, according to a report released Tuesday. "The current legislation would actually encourage insurance companies to raise rates in order to increase profits," said Jerry Flanagan, health policy analyst with Consumer Watchdog, which is based in Santa Monica. "If the government is going to require all Americans to buy health insurance, then the government has the responsibility to make insurance affordable. </p>

Mercury Insurance Billboard Sparks Controversy

September 16, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The controversy over the Los Angeles billboard telling the public "You Can't Trust Mercury Insurance" could soon become a lawsuit. Attorneys for Consumer Watchdog, the group that put up the message, have sent a letter to CBS Outdoor, Inc., the billboard owner, threatening legal action to force them to restore the sign if the company does not do it by themselves.

Baucus Releases Health Care Bill

September 16, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Consumer Watchdog, a good government group, rapped the plan for allowing middle class families to continue to pay up to 20 percent of the annual income on health care coverage and imposing steep fines on Americans who do not buy coverage. “Government cannot force families to pay more than their mortgage to purchase coverage from a for-profit insurer,” said Jerry Flanagan, health policy director of Consumer Watchdog. “Yet if families paying more than 10 percent are automatically exempted from the law, they will still be without health care. It’s an impossible bind, and tough, transparent regulation is the right start to fixing it.” </p>

California Consumer Group Wants Its Billboard Back

September 13, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Bright Yellow Billboard Warned Consumers 'You Can't Trust Mercury Insurance'</strong><br /> <br /> It's not unusual for businesses to respond aggressively when consumers go online to complain about them, but it's not often a billboard causes a major dust-up. In Los Angeles, the <a href="http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/09/mercury_billboard.html#">non-profit consumer group Consumer Watchdog</a> is demanding that CBS Outdoor reinstall a bright yellow billboard that read "Consumer Watchdog Says: 'You Can't Trust Mercury Insurance'".  CBS Outdoor must re-install the billboard immediately and fulfill its contractual obligation, the consumer group demanded in a letter to the billboard company sent last week. <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/DOC090909.pdf">The letter</a>, from First Amendment lawyer Anthony Glassman said that Consumer Watchdog would sue CBS Outdoor if the company did not honor the contract.

DC Dispatch: The week in review

September 13, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Things got busy fast this week in DC as Congress returned from the month-long summer break. <br/> <br/> Finance committee chair Sen. Max Baucus released his long-awaited health reform proposal on Tuesday after months of closed-door meetings...

Duvall Incident Spotlights Politicians’ Perks In Capital

September 11, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Beyond lavish meals with fine wines, special interests offer overseas junkets, pro basketball games, weekends at spas and golf resorts and in some cases sex.</strong> <p> Doug Heller, executive director of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said the Duvall incident shows that lobbyists are increasingly pushing the envelope: the rise of "extreme lobbying," he calls it. "I'm afraid this is not a once-in-a decade anomaly," Heller said. </p>

Giant Vagina Outlasts Spiteful Billboard

September 10, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

In Koreatown, a billboard that read "Consumer Watchdog Says: 'You Can't Trust Mercury Insurance'" was dismantled last week after the company complained to CBS Outdoor. The billboard was preapproved by CBS Outdoor and was up for almost two weeks before Mercury's lawyers applied pressure, The Times reported. Yet a few blocks away, there's an Absolut Mango ad that wins our coveted "Outstanding Achievement in Vaginal Art" award. Actually the billboard is kind of tasteful -- well, as tasteful as a giant vagina can be. It does have a certain Edvard Munch vibe to it. Think "The Scream" meets the female anatomy.