Insurance

Letters to the Editor – Re: “Tort war general cashiered”

February 17, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Proposition 103 has saved Californians more than $23 billion on their auto insurance alone, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Moreover, it did what tort reforms enacted in 1975 failed to do: reduced the price of medical malpractice insurance. Hardly what Walters calls "fairly minimal" results.</p>

Allstate Revises Way It Sets Premiums

February 16, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Tampa Tribune (Florida)</p> <p>Allstate Insurance Company is changing the way it uses a person's credit to set premiums on home and auto insurance policies after a group of black and Hispanic customers argued that the practices led to higher rates for minorities.</p>

Is Allstate’s new policy a brushoff?

February 16, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The insurer seeks a hike in home rates. Some say it wants to exit the state.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Some consumer advocates see the Allstate rate-hike request as the first major test for Poizner, a Republican who says he is "committed to driving down the cost of insurance for everyone." Poizner said he wouldn't be cowed. "I want to make it crystal clear that I absolutely will not permit excessive rates to be charged by any company under any circumstances," he said.</p>

CAPITOL WATCHDOG: A surge in contributions;

February 16, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The timing of industry donations to the state Assembly's new Insurance Committee chairman suggests early notice of the appointment.</h3><p class="source">The Orange County Register (California)</p> <p>The timing of Coto's contributions suggests the insurance industry could have learned early that he was getting the job. That would give the industry a green light to contribute while deflecting criticism that Coto was being paid off. The money, after all, came before the announcement. "You don't want the money tied to the announcement because you can say it was quid pro quo," said Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a campaign finance and insurance industry watchdog.</p>

Clout vs. outrage in California’s insurance wars

February 16, 2007  ·  Doug Heller

<p class="source">Capitol Weekly (California)</p> <p>The Legislature also needs to examine itself. As soon as a member is appointed to one of the insurance committees, insurance industry funding follows. This necessarily taints decisions on insurance matters. If lawmakers on these committees were to refuse industry contributions, perhaps voters could feel more confident that they are in good hands.</p>

Clout vs. outrage in California’s insurance wars

February 15, 2007  ·  Doug Heller

<p class="source">Capitol Weekly (California)</p> <p>The Legislature also needs to examine itself. As soon as a member is appointed to one of the insurance committees, insurance industry funding follows. This necessarily taints decisions on insurance matters. If lawmakers on these committees were to refuse industry contributions, perhaps voters could feel more confident that they are in good hands.</p>

Poizner’s choice of advisor criticized;

February 14, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Consumer advocates are wary of the insurance regulator's new aide, an ex-industry lobbyist.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Poizner said he valued Gausewitz's insurance expertise and asked consumer groups to be patient while he assembled his entire leadership team. But consumer advocates worry that the selection may signal a tilt by the department in favor of the business it regulates. "He is the industry's inside guy in an agency Poizner said would be accountable and controlled only by the people. On its face, it's improper," said Harvey Rosenfield, author of the landmark Proposition 103 initiative approved by California voters in 1988 that made insurance a highly regulated industry.</p>

RATEPAYERS’ RELIEF — INSURANCE:

February 11, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>THANKS TO FAVORABLE ACCIDENT AND CLAIMS RATES, CALIFORNIA'S FOUR LARGEST CARRIERS WILL LOWER PREMIUMS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS</h3><p class="source">Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)</p> <p>Most California policyholders will see savings when they renew their policies for 2007, said Doug Heller, executive director at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, an industry watchdog group in Santa Monica. "It's great news," Heller said. "We're talking about some real money."</p>

Foundation suggests Schwarzenegger health plan’s success depends on affordability

February 11, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Health Insurance Law Weekly</p> <p>"Insurance companies and HMOs will do all they can to undermine the governor's healthcare plan, and fight to retain their right to make unlimited profit. Instead, the governors' proposals must be strengthened, not undermined, in the legislative process," said Jerry Flanagan, research director of FTCR. "The governor's acknowledgment that insurers are abusing those who seek coverage does offer hope that this broken market will be fixed, regardless of the outcome of the debate on universal coverage."</p>

Insurance panel locked in struggle to survive;

February 5, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Rate-control strategy ineffective, some say</h3><p class="source">Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)</p> <p>Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a California group that wrote Proposition 103, the measure that created the state's rigorous system of insurance regulation, said that effective insurance monitoring is critical because homeowners are spending money on a product they are required to buy to get a mortgage but that can't be tested until disaster strikes.</p>

California voters see drug and insurance profits driving rise in health costs

February 4, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Health Insurance Law Weekly</p> <p>The poll also found that 81% of those surveyed want government to assure that all Californians have access to affordable coverage. "This large support backs FTCR's proposal that the state should open its own nonprofit health plans to individuals and employers in addition to implementing insurance and HMO cost regulation," said Jerry Flanagan with FTCR.</p>

Health plan review may be intensified;

January 30, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The state's top HMO regulator calls for outside oversight of insurers' attempts to drop policyholders.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Ehnes called Monday's meeting after the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights petitioned the department to issue regulations clarifying the issue. The Santa Monica group was instrumental in the adoption of auto insurance rate reforms and enhanced patient protections against treatment denials by health maintenance organizations. Jerry Flanagan, a consumer advocate with the group, said he believed the complaints that had come to light so far were the "tip of the iceberg" because many people thought they had no recourse when an insurer accused them of lying on an application.</p>