Insurance

A CASE OF THE BLUES

July 1, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Scranton Times-Tribune (Pennsylvania)</p> <p>Consumer advocates, such as Mr. Flanagan with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, agree with Dr. Kongstvedt on at least one point: Mergers can be highly profitable and successful. But Mr. Flanagan said the money generated goes back into the companies or into Wall Street investors' pockets. </p>

AUTO INSURANCE: Wave of high fees forecast;

June 29, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A court ruling lets stand added charges for those who pay in installments.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Harvey Rosenfield of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica said, "I predict that we'll see abuse crop up everywhere." Rosenfield said he now was looking to California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to use his regulatory powers to crack down on insurers, if he deems their installment payments excessively high.</p>

GMA GETS ANSWERS: MEDICAID AND HMOS; IS IT REALLY TREATMENT FOR NEEDY?

June 26, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">ABC-TV News - GOOD MORNING AMERICA</p> <p>JERRY FLANAGAN (FOUNDATION FOR TAXPAYER AND CONSUMER RIGHTS): The effect on patients has been having a harder time getting access to the care they need, waiting longer for doctors visits, and in some cases, services being cut altogether.</p>

Lawmakers’ driving claims cost California taxpayers

June 9, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>"Particularly with lawmakers like Senator Migden, who has had several claims, I wonder if taxpayers should be picking up the cost. Lawmakers with poor driving records should be picking up the cost themselves," said Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocacy group in Santa Monica. "Taxpayers certainly shouldn't be paying for the poor driving habits of lawmakers."</p>

Six-Figure Donors Have Arnold’s Ear

June 8, 2007  ·  Carmen Balber

<font face="verdana,sans-serif" size="2">Arnold held a <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.orgpoliticians/corporate/nw/?%20postId=7545">cocktail and dinner reception</a> at his Brentwood estate on Wednesday for his top donors, all of...</font>

Let voters reform health care

June 8, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (California)</p> <p>So would a ballot initiative work? It wouldn't be easy. "Insurers would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat it," observed Jerry Flanagan, health care policy director at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Southern California consumer advocacy group. "They'd attempt to focus people on tax increases and drown out that this would be far less than what people now pay in premiums and deductibles," he said.</p>

Arnold’s Big Insurance Payback

June 7, 2007  ·  Carmen Balber

<font face="verdana,sans-serif" size="2">The California Assembly passed legislation to <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.orgpoliticians/healthcare/pr/?postId=8073">regulate skyrocketing health insurance premiums today</a> in a bill,...</font>

Activists’ health-care remedy: Control rates

June 4, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based foundation, is not optimistic that AB 1554 will become law. A similar bill was defeated in the Legislature in 2003. Even if AB 1554 clears the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Court predicts Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto it. "But we know that if the Legislature won't do it, voters will, because they're tired of seeing premiums rise while insurance companies make record profits," Court said.</p>

Wildfire Insurance Trouble

June 4, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">CNN-TV - AMERICAN MORNING 6:00 AM EST</p> <p>Some southern California residents are finding that insurance companies consider them too hot to handle. Wildfire insurance is getting tougher, and it's actually more expensive.</p>

High deductibles a pain for some insured;

June 3, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Cash-strapped consumers can end up forgoing needed medical treatment or falling into debt. </h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The point of insurance is to cover unforeseen events, critics of high-deductible plans say. Plans like Tonik "cherry pick" the healthiest consumers while saddling less healthy and poorer patients with overwhelming medical bills should they become gravely ill or unexpectedly pregnant, critics say. "If you can't afford the deductible, it really isn't affordable insurance," said Jerry Flanagan, an advocate with the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights.</p>

Fundraiser’s timing questioned;

May 31, 2007  ·  Carmen Balber

<h3> S.F. lawmaker holds event a day before panel he chairs will deal with billions in spending.</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Carmen Balber, of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the group is pushing legislation in Leno's committee to slow health insurance rate hikes. "You have to raise the question: Is health-insurer money that goes into that fundraiser going to influence whether or not that bill (survives)?" Balber asked.</p>

Health insurance regulation proposed;

May 31, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Bill would require approval of rates and co-payments</h3><p class="source">THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE</p> <p>"This is the big showdown," said Jerry Flanagan, health care advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer group supporting the bill. "The insurers want to kill it... because the cost savings are huge for California consumers and they don't want that fact to be public."</p>