Insurance

No consumer voices at today’s US Senate hearing on health reform

March 24, 2009  ·  Jerry Flanagan

<p> When we're talking about health insurance reform, the most important voice is often the one not invited to the table: the consumer.  Consumers and consumer advocates have been consistently locked out of key discussions in the current health care debate... </p>

Stuck in a privatized time warp

March 19, 2009  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top GOP politician in the health care reform debate, is positive that Americans don't need an option to private, for-profit health insurers. He sees his anything like offering Medicare as a voluntary option to consumers as a deal-killer, according to <a href="www.cq.com">CQ.com </a>(subscription barrier). A guy with Grassley's mind-set must also see private contractors as the saviors of Iraq and AIG as the model for a healthy, deregulated financial system. </p>

AIG scandal could help change research funding policy

March 19, 2009  ·  John M. Simpson

The fallout from the bonus scandal at AIG could help bring about a change in federal research funding policy that would benefit taxpayers.At least that's <a href="http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/2009/03/timing-right-for-sharing-wealth-on.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dave Jensen's view, expressed on his widely respected blog</a>, The California Stem Cell Report.

Consumer Group Calls For FBI Probe Of AIG

March 18, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> SANTA MONICA, CA -- A consumer group called on the U.S. Justice Department to form a special FBI unit to investigate the controversial bonuses being paid to executives at AIG. Consumer Watchdog said in a written statement Wednesday that the bureau should take the lead in determining whether there was any misconduct on the part of American Insurance Group employees who claim they have a contractual right to a bonus. </p>

Health Insurance Industry Works On Image Makeover

March 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> "Private insurance is the problem," said Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog, a California-based group. "Individuals can't afford to be forced into buying private insurance." </p>

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>