Insurance

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>

How freshmen get top Assembly posts;

January 30, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The large amounts of money they contribute to Democratic causes correlates to the leadership positions they receive.</h3><p class="source">The Orange County Register (California)</p> <p>A rookie legislator, Solorio lacks the sort of background you might expect of the law enforcement chairman. He ran this fall on an education platform, touting his public policy degree from Harvard and encouraging Latinos to learn English. His slogan was "The Education Candidate." "The only qualification that I see is that he had a lot of money to spread around," said political watchdog Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

People left holding bag when policies revoked;

January 29, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Make a mistake on your application? You may pay for that surgery yourself</h3><p class="source">USA TODAY</p> <p>Critics of the industry say the practice is overused. "The newest tool insurers have found is to check into every sick person who files an expensive claim to see if there's an argument that they lied on their enrollment application," says Jamie Court of the Los Angeles-based advocacy group Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights.</p>

‘Gold-plated’ is in the eyes of the beholder

January 26, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Marketplace Radio Program (American Public Media)</p> <p>Consumer advocate Jamie Court says President Bush's proposal to tax healthcare spending above what the government thinks is too much is a raw deal for consumers who have no control over their insurance bills.</p>

‘Gold-plated’ is in the eyes of the beholder

January 26, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Marketplace Radio Program (American Public Media)</p> <p>Consumer advocate Jamie Court says President Bush's proposal to tax healthcare spending above what the government thinks is too much is a raw deal for consumers who have no control over their insurance bills.</p>

Stem cells untethered?

January 25, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Research should not be docked to the WARF</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Credit goes to John Simpson of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica non-profit. In July, Simpson and his group filed an official challenge to three WARF patents, with support from Jeanne Loring, a researcher at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla. They make a strong case that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should never have issued the patents.</p>

Watchdogs voice worries about insurance appointee;

January 25, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>HE LACKS EXPERIENCE, EXCELS AT FUNDRAISING</h3><p class="source">The San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>Watchdog groups critical of the appointment suggest that one of the biggest priorities for the insurance committee chair has become raising gobs of money for Democratic causes from the insurance industry. Coto is a former schools superintendent who hadn't previously served on the committee nor carried insurance legislation, but he has a solid track record for fundraising and shifting donations to the party -- facts that further the skepticism of critics.</p>