Insurance

Insurers, Including AIG, Spent Nearly $36 Million to Influence Congress

May 16, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Insurance companies, including American International Group (AIG), spent nearly $36 million in recent years on <a href="../../../insurance/articles/?storyId=27286">political contributions to members of Congress</a>, according to the Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Responsive Politics. Also among the big givers were Hartford Financial and Lincoln Financial, two companies that are <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE54E14B20090515">in line to get billions in TARP funds</a> from the U.S. Treasury. Consumer Watchdog says that insurers are hoping that Congress will support their effort to opt out of state regulation in favor of a federal regulator. </p>

Where Will The Money Come From? And Who Will Be Left Out Of Health Reform?

May 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

This week, <em>The Economist</em> <a href="http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13649042" target="_blank" rel="noopener">zoomed in on</a> an issue that the press has overlooked of late: the details of where the money will come from to pay for health reform. The House document <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090514/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released yesterday</a> calls for an “individual mandate”—a requirement that everyone must carry health insurance. If you don’t get it from your employer or if you don’t qualify for Medicaid, you will be required to buy a policy in the dreaded individual insurance market, where prices are high and insurer scrutiny of your health problems is intense. The mandate is sure to be controversial, and interest groups are already poised to fight it. “We know the mandate can be beat,” <a href="../../../../../../../patients/articles/?storyId=27270" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> Carmen Balber on the blog of Consumer Watchdog, a vocal consumer group that helped defeat an individual mandate in California a few years ago. “We were able to beat it because the numbers behind a mandate just don’t add up. You just can’t force people to buy something they can’t afford.”

DC Dispatch: Why won’t anyone question an insurance mandate?

May 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> I joined a group of reporters yesterday who'd spent hours waiting outside the Senate Finance Committee hearing room for the private meeting of that public body to conclude, and heard a lot of jokes about the fact that Senators Baucus and Grassley were probably going to come out and announce --- nothing. "Everything's on the table" has been their repeated mantra... </p>

State Farm To Cut Auto Rates

May 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

State Farm had to be prodded into reducing premiums as much as it did, said Douglas Heller, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica group that advocates on behalf of policyholders on regulatory matters before the state Department of Insurance. State Farm last year originally asked Poizner to lower rates by about $88 million, Heller said. Consumer Watchdog argued that a $350-million reduction would be justified, and Poizner approved a cut of $219 million. "Even with this rate decrease," Heller said, "State Farm customers will be paying more than they should be for the auto coverage they are getting."

Seeking An Insurance Policy – On Regulation

May 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> "The federal government should oversee insurance," U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) said yesterday as he convened another House hearing on how to regulate risk. But what if the new federal insurance watchdog set up rules and rates that were weaker than the protections some states now give consumers? That's what happened in the banking business, where credit card lenders used federal regulation to preempt consumer-protection laws in states such as Pennsylvania 30 years ago. Insurance activists like Douglas Heller of Consumer Watchdog worry that that'll happen in their industry, too. Kanjorski has attracted more campaign money from insurance people - a half-million dollars, by Heller's count - than any other House member in the last two election cycles. </p>

State Farm To Cut Car Insurance Rates For Calif.

May 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Doug Heller, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, said State Farm proposed last year to lower auto insurance rates by 3.2 percent or about $88 million as required by state law. Heller said his Santa Monica-based group challenged the proposal, arguing the company was relying on one year's worth of data for determining its loss trends, which are used to predict future losses and to set the rate. Heller said insurance providers were previously required to consider three years' worth of data on losses, but Poizner loosened the rule last year.

Health care reform turning into bailout for health insurers

May 12, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

It's hard not to read the new <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/HealthcareDescriptionPolicyOptions.pdf">US Senate Finance Committee paper</a> laying out policy options for health care reform as anything but a bailout of the HMO and insurance industry.

DC Dispatch: Congress health reform plan tilts to insurers

May 12, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> A Senate <a href="http://www.finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202009/051109%20Health%20Care%20Description%20of%20Policy%20Options.pdf">health care reform "policy options"</a> document released last night gives us a good idea where national reform plans will go, and it offers some major causes for worry. It states without reservation that  every American must show proof of insurance coverage, with a few exceptions. And a strong "public option," like voluntary Medicare, is just one of several possibilities. Before we get to the laudable parts, Consumer Watchdog wants to state one thing clearly: If federal health reforms demand that Americans buy unregulated private insurance, and don't offer a public option of Medicare strength, it will be a criminal ripoff of families and taxpayers. </p>

Making it easy for Google

May 9, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> You'd think with the communications resources that <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a> has at its disposal, the Internet giant's executives would be able to answer direct questions. An exchange of letters over the last few weeks shows otherwise. </p>

California Court: Safeco Must Disclose Surcharges

May 8, 2009  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

<p> LOS ANGELES, CA -- A group of California attorneys have won a battle with Safeco Insurance Co. over surcharges the company was charging customers. A state appellate court decision allows policyholders to have their day in court, said Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103, which Safeco allegedly violated. </p>

Google Pro-Openness Campaign Meets Opposition

May 8, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Google has launched a wide-ranging campaign highlighting its "competition and openness," meeting with everyone from policymakers to media in order to convince them of its anti-monopolistic intentions. Certain consumer-advocacy organizations, however, do not have a warm and fuzzy feeling about Google’s motives. In a May 8 news release, nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog described sending the U.S. Justice Department a copy of a document that Google had been using to back its anti-monopolistic claims; the nonprofit group had taken the liberty of marking the document up with comments.

Consumer Advocates Ask Gov. Crist To Veto Home Insurance Deregulation

May 6, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Four consumer advocacy groups implored Gov. Charlie Crist today to veto a bill that would allow large insurers to charge essentially unregulated rates. "This bill is an invitation for insurers to game the Florida regulatory system and abuse consumers," said officials from the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Watchdog, Center for Economic Justice and United Policyholders in a letter to the governor. "No price can be too high, no discrimination can be found unfair if a policy is issued under these terms." </p>