Insurance

Health Care Ruling Raises Questions for Other Cases

June 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

California's health insurance industry claimed victory and vindication last week when Blue Shield of California won the first ever jury trial in a health insurance rescission lawsuit, brought by an injured policyholder and his wife. Some health care advocates saw the Hailey verdict as a good sign for future lawsuits. "Blue Shield lost by winning here," said Jerry Flanagan, health advocate for the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog. "Blue Shield said all along that the standard is too high, we can't meet it--and then they did it here."

Google’s Former Policy Exec Faces Objections To Appointment As Deputy CTO

June 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Two consumer groups object to Andrew McLaughlin's potential appointment, saying it would violate President Obama's ethics guidelines.</strong><br /> <br /> Andrew McLaughlin is slated to become the new deputy CTO, under federal CTO Aneesh Chopra, according to a New York Times report citing two unnamed sources. Google has acknowledged McLaughlin's departure, but not his destination. The White House has not yet announced plans to appoint McLaughlin. Nonetheless, the Center for Digital Democracy and Consumer Watchdog on Wednesday asked President Obama in a letter not to complete the rumored pending appointment because doing so would violate the President's ethics guidelines.

Veto The Anti-Consumer Property Insurance Bill

June 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Gov. Crist has already indicated some reservations about signing this bill. We implore him to continue that smart thinking and to continue looking out for the best interests of Florida's insurance consumers. Consumer advocates across the state are expressing similar concerns, including the Florida Public Interest Research Group, the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, the Florida Consumer Action Network, Consumer Watchdog, the Center for Economic Justice, United Policyholders, Insured's Public Action Coalition, Floridians In Action as well as Florida's Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw.

Proposal Would Combat Rescissions of Health Insurance Policies In California

June 3, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Steve Poizner, the state insurance chief, plans to unveil rules today that would deter insurers from dropping policyholders who develop costly ailments. Consumer advocates said they planned to keep the pressure on Poizner, a Republican who is running for governor. "The test for Poizner is not introducing a strong regulation but finishing the process and standing up to the insurance companies," said Jerry Flanagan, an advocate with Consumer Watchdog. "The public will be watching to see if Poizner sticks to his guns." </p>

Single-Payer Health Care Supporters Plea for Consideration from Baucus

June 2, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Whitefish Forum Discusses Reform with Senator’s Staff</strong><br /> <br /> Some in the audience also questioned whether the amount of campaign contributions Baucus has received from the insurance industry plays any role in the senator’s reluctance to consider a single payer system. Baucus is the third highest recipient of contributions from the insurance industry in the Senate, according to a study by the group Consumer Watchdog.

WellPoint Goes On The Offensive

May 31, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Industry critics, however, see the report as yet another example of public-relations spin by Big Insurance designed to squash the public-plan option. "They'll lose dollars and people if the public-plan option that the president wants becomes a reality," said Jerry Flanagan, health-care policy director with Consumer Watchdog, a California-based advocacy group. "The general public doesn't put much credence into a poll like this." Over the past five years, WellPoint has made profit of $12.4 billion on revenue of about $245.4 billion -- a margin of about 5 percent, according to company filings. Flanagan said Americans allowed to enroll in a competing public plan would benefit from Medicare's low administrative expenses of about 3 percent.<br /> </p>

Google Updates PageRank, Rolls Out Web Elements

May 28, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> However, Google has also run into some high-profile controversies over the past few months. In April, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog publicly questioned the settlement between Google, The Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) over the search-engine giant's growing digital library. In particular, Consumer Watchdog argued that the settlement, which gave Google the same terms as any theoretical future competitor, deserved to be placed under government review. </p>

AT&T Class Action Suit Can Proceed To Trial

May 28, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> The case was filed in Seattle in 2006 on behalf of all AT&T Wireless customers who claim they were deceived or overcharged as a result of that company's acquisition by Cingular. The lawsuit claimed that these customers found they had to buy new equipment, move to higher cost plans, and, in some cases, pay an $18 "transfer" or "upgrade" fee. "This is a major victory for AT&T customers all over the nation," said Harvey Rosenfield, a lawyer for California-based Consumer Watchdog , a nonprofit group. </p>

Massachusetts, “model for national health care reform,” cracking under cost pressures

May 28, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Despite the fact that more Massachusetts residents have health insurance, many of them can't actually use that "insurance" to get health care. That's what the ... </p>

Property Insurance Battle: Fight Heats Up Over Bill To Allow Property Insurers To Raise Rates On Their Own

May 27, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Governor Urged To Veto Deregulation Bill</strong><br /> <br /> The fight is heating up against legislation that would essentially allow large property insurers to raise rates without state approval. Consumer groups opposed to the bill include Florida Consumer Action Network, Consumer Watchdog, Center for Economic Justice, United Policyholders, Insured's Public Action Coalition and Floridians In Action.

NYT editorializes against federalization of insurance regulation

May 22, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> We've been posting a lot about big insurers' plot to win deregulation as part of the federal financial overhaul.  Now the New York Times has, quite succinctly, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/opinion/21thu1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made the case</a> against this play for federalization.<a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/articles/?storyId=27286" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a> </p>

San Jose Assemblyman Reaps Campaign Cash As Insurance Committee Chair

May 22, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

"He hasn't done anything resembling oversight of the insurance industry," said Consumer Watchdog's executive director, Douglas Heller. "And the few times that he has taken tough positions, he's worked vigorously to advance the industry's interests against the interests of consumers."