Insurance

DC Dispatch: White House compromising on Obama’s public option already?

March 10, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> As HMO execs gathered at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown, their hired hands on Capitol Hill grilled the Adminisration in hearings today about cutting payments to ineffective HMOs under Medicare and about the public option in the president's health plan.  The White House showed a sign of compromise too early. </p>

Patients protest health insurance industry’s Ritz-Carlton strategy session

March 10, 2009  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> I joined patients and nurses at a protest this morning outside the Ritz-Carlton, while health insurance executives gathered inside and plotted how to make sure private health insurance companies can keep gouging patients in any health care reform... </p>

Concerns Over Drug Companies’ Political Donations

March 10, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Consumer Watchdog has revealed that politicians in Washington have received multimillion dollar donations from drug and health insurance companies. "When the engineer of the health care reform train is getting more fuel from the HMOs and drug companies that any other Democrat on Capitol Hill, you have to wonder who is really driving the train and whether average Americans will be tied to the tracks," says Carmen Balber, Director of Consumer Watchdog’s Washington D.C. office.<br />

Insurance companies are “partners” in wolves’ clothing

March 6, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> The debate over health care reform too often comes down to a shorthand of insuring the uninsured. But having an insurance policy isn't the same as being able to get health care. Karen Tumulty, a health reporter for Time, tells us <a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1883149,00.html">what happened to her brother when kidney failure struck</a> -- a maze of debt and rejection that threatened his life, even though he thought he'd had insurance for six years. The story is full of reasons why private insurance companies can't be allowed to dictate national health policy. </p>

One decade, $5 Billion, bought Wall Street freedom from oversight

March 6, 2009  ·  Carmen Balber

<a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2009_03_05_Wall_Street_spent_bilions_lobbying/">Wall Street spent $5 Billion</a> in one decade in Washington to buy the deregulation that resulted in the financial meltdown. These are the...

Web windows but no consumer advocates at White House health care summit

March 6, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> Thursday's White House summit on health care reform was much more show than substance. What is showed was that president has delivered on at least one campaign promise: making sure health care policy is not created in windowless rooms. On the other hand, not a single consumer advocate was part of the group of 120 who gathered for the summit. </p>

Insurance policyholders not at risk because of the financial crisis

March 6, 2009  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> I spent the morning watching a <a href="http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr030509.shtml">House Financial Services subcommittee hearing</a> into what a ‘systemic risk regulator’ of the financial... </p>

Can we trust government regulators to get it right?

March 4, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4836927n">The 60 Minutes segment, "The Man Who Knew,</a>" was produced by my brother Andy, and it shows how the SEC ignored the financial analyst who warned the regulators about Bernie Madoff's $50 billion fraud nine years ago.  The segment raises fundamental questions about how the Obama Administration will do better at making regulation work.<br />

AIG v. AIG: Lawsuit-hating former chairman files lawsuit

March 4, 2009  ·  Doug Heller

Five years ago, AIG's then-Chairman, Hank Greenberg, compared lawyers who sue corporations on behalf of injured plaintiffs with terrorists.   Now he's suing his former company.

Banks Taking Advantage Of More People Relying On Credit Cards

March 3, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

More people have been relying on their credit cards to make ends meet during this recession. Consumer activists complain that banks are taking advantage of that by arbitrarily raising interest rates and imposing more penalties that cause more people to default on their credit card payments.

Obamacare principles steer clear of Schwarzenegger mistakes

February 27, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> The release of today's federal budget was accompanied by 8 principles that President Obama laid out for the Congress as it takes up health care reform.  The president clearly learned from Governor Schwarzenegger's failed health insurance overhaul last year.  </p>

Move Afoot At Federal Level That Could Gut California’s Prop. 103

February 26, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The plan has drawn fire from the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which believes the Royce-Bean plan would dramatically weaken regulation of California’s insurance industry. In particular, the group  believes the proposal would gut Proposition 103, the 1988 California ballot initiative authored by the group's leader and backed by national consumer advocate Ralph Nader. The proposition created California’s first elected insurance commissioner, sought to outlaw unfair and discriminatory rates and beefed up the state’s regulatory landscape.