Insurance

Connecticut governor orders rate debate on medical malpractice insurance

January 11, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Malpractice Premium Forges Rare Alliance</h3><p class="source">Hartford Courant (Connecticut)</p> <p>FTCR challenged Medical Protective's proposed 29.2 percent rate increase for California last year. The company ended up accepting an 11.8 percent increase there.</p>

Commentary: The President Prescribes Retribution

January 11, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>In using the crisis to settle a political score with the trial lawyers, Bush is guilty of presidential malpractice.</h3><p class="source">Newhouse News Service</p> <p>A study by FTCR, using the experience in California and statistics developed by the federal government's auditing office, makes the case that capping jury awards has had little impact on malpractice insurance rates. What works best is tighter regulation</p>

Plan to reduce state boards assailed;

January 7, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Consumer protections are at great risk, critics contend.</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration insisted Thursday that his plan to abolish nearly 100 California regulatory boards and commissions would bolster consumer protection, but consumer activists called the claim preposterous.</p>

Health Biz: Malpractice caps not enough

January 6, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">United Press International (UPI Wires)</p> <p>The non-profit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights quickly shot back malpractice premiums rose 450 percent after the 1975 cap until a 1988 voter initiative passed that began regulating insurance premiums by law.</p>

Court to decide when lawsuit limit began

January 5, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>Consumer advocates believe they hold a trump card: an e-mail sent in September from the official Prop. 64 campaign, saying the measure was not retroactive, in response to an inquiry from Daniel Sigler, an Orange County attorney.</p>

Bush launching campaign for second-term agenda;

January 5, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>President seeks changes on malpractice awards, tax code, Social Security</h3><p class="source">The Baltimore Sun</p> <p>Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which opposes Bush's plan, said Bush is "on a warpath to blame the ills of the health care system on a manufactured concept that lawsuits are the heart of the problem."</p>

Democrats Ready to Battle Gov.;

January 3, 2005  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Still in control of the Legislature, the party plans to be more assertive, especially on issues of concern to the middle class.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Arnold is the largest recipient of pharmaceutical donations in America except for George Bush. (Schwarzenegger has accepted $367,200 from drug companies according to an analysis by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.)</p>

States vs. U.S.: Who Will Police Insurance Firms?

December 31, 2004  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The New York Times</p> <p>"Federal regulation would substitute a deregulated environment that would wipe out what pitifully limited regulation exists at the state level," said Harvey Rosenfield, a California lawyer and founder of FTCR. "States need to pass laws to make regulation</p>

Middle-class Americans face life without health insurance

December 31, 2004  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>"When the problem of the uninsured affects the middle class, there will be a political will in Sacramento to solve the problem," said Jerry Flanagan, health policy director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

OPINION – Express your outrage;

December 30, 2004  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>CA Board of Equalization gives tax refunds to corporations that paid no income taxes</h3><p class="source">Eureka Times-Standard (California)</p> <p>Critics are fuming over this, as should every Californian who has paid a cent in income tax.</p>

Firms that paid no state taxes set to get $82 million in refunds

December 28, 2004  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Riverside Press-Enterprise</p> <p>"To actually be giving a gift to companies that paid no taxes is a slap in the face of every taxpaying citizen in the state," said Doug Heller, an advocate for the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Citing Prop. 64, Firms Seek to Kill Lawsuits;

December 27, 2004  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>At least a dozen unfair-competition cases that existed before the measure's passage have come under challenge.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Opponents of Proposition 64 -- mainly environmental and consumer rights activists -- accuse business of pulling a bait-and-switch with voters by trying to apply the amended law retroactively.</p>