Insurance

Allstate seeks 9.3% hike in home rates

January 15, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>From 1997 to 2004, Allstate said it ranked second among home insurers with $82.5 million in investments. That represents almost 30 percent of the amount all homeowner insurers invested in underserved communities during that period. But Pamela Pressley, an attorney for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the carrier's analysis is flawed. She said Allstate invested only $15 million during the final three years of the survey period. Customers, she said, shouldn't be asked to pay for the company's goodwill. Moreover, Pressley said, "they (Allstate) already are getting some return on investment."</p>

State Lawmakers Zero In On Insurance

January 15, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> A year after homeowners suffering with sky-high insurance bills were promised "help is on the way," they're still waiting. </p> <p> Now, Florida's lawmakers, regulators and the governor are demanding to know why, mounting...</p>

Speculation on Pump Price Fluctuations

January 14, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<div class="postDetail"> <p style="font-size: 10px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Associated Press</span><br/> January 14, 2008 </p> <p style="font-size: 10px"> by Associated Press State & Local Wires </p> ...</div>

Speculation on Pump Price Fluctuations

January 14, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>A 2006 study by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights found corporate markups and profiteering were responsible for price spikes, not rising crude costs as the oil industry claims.</p>

STATES WAITING FOR CALIFORNIA TO SET HEALTH-CARE REFORM TREND

January 14, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">BestWeek</p> <p>That's what makes Douglas Heller, executive director of the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, nervous. His organization favors a single-payer plan and eyes the California shared-responsibility approach as "a punitive approach to health care that's a giveaway to the insurance companies" that puts the burden on middle-class consumers. That's why we want so badly for California to get it right. Massachusetts may be looked at as a testing ground. California is more of a trendsetter," Heller said. "The nation looks to California."</p>

Proposed Calif. Levy Gets Grudging Nod From Insurers

January 10, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<div class="postDetail"> <p style="font-size: 11px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">BestWire (A.M. Best)</span><br/> January 10, 2008 </p> <p style="font-size: 10px"> by Sean P. Carr, Senior Associate Editor, BestWeek </p> ...</div>

PROPOSED CALIF. LEVY GETS GRUDGING NOD FROM INSURERS

January 10, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">BestWire (A.M. Best)</p> <p>A California-based consumer organization that is currently challenging several companies' insurance rates urged legislators to reject what it called "a tax on consumers." Douglas Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said in a statement, "Shared responsibility does not mean making average Californians pay while the governor's insurance company donors just deliver the check to Sacramento."</p>

Mercury Insurance gives $100,000 to Prop 93, watch for Pols to give back

January 10, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> A $100,000 contribution from Mercury Insurance was just reported to one of the political committees supporting Prop 93 -- the effort to extend current lawmakers terms.  Watch for legislation this year to allow Mercury to get out of...</p>

Schwarzenegger’s Homeowners Insurance Tax – Dumb Idea

January 10, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> When I first heard (yesterday) about Schwarzenegger's plan to tax homeowners on their insurance policies as a way to fill some of his massive budget hole, I assumed I was being told about a terrible idea that never got anywhere, "but boy Doug you'll thik it's funny they even considered this." </p>

Gov. plans to seek fire levy;

January 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<div class="postDetail"> <p style="font-size: 11px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Los Angeles Times</span><br/> January 9, 2008 </p> <p style="font-size: 10px"> by Marc Lifsher & Evan Halper, Times Staff Writers </p> ...</div>

Gov. plans to seek fire levy;

January 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The 1.25% fee, added to property insurance bills, would boost firefighting and aid overall budget. Critics call it a tax.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>As the money came in, the governor could cut existing funds from firefighting agencies and use it to help close a budget gap that his office projects at $14 billion, said one consumer advocate, who asked why the burden would fall on property owners instead of insurance companies. "If the governor wants to fill the budget gap, he should find an honest way to do it," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "He's wrong to target insurance customers, whose premiums are already too high."</p>

Will Mercury Insurance and Insurance Broker lobbyists try to change the rules in order to charge customers more?

January 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> For several years Mercury Insurance and lobbyists for insurance brokers have desperately tried to change California's insurance rules governing who is an insurance broker who gets to charge customers an unregulated fee and who is an... </p>