Insurance

Consumer Groups Seek Rate Protection

September 27, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Electricity: Activists push legislators to promise that customers won't be forced to cover rising wholesale costs</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Consumer activists on Tuesday blasted increasingly aggressive strategies by Southern California Edison and the state's other big utilities to recover their mounting wholesale electricity costs and called for lawmakers to promise that ratepayers won't bear</p>

Toward a Seamless System of Health Care

September 25, 2000  ·  Jamie Court

<!-- excerpt --><p>The time has come for an overhaul of the indecipherable patchwork of insurance programs to create a single, seamless and sensible system.</p>

Low sworn in as state insurance commissioner

September 19, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>Insurance Commissioner Harry Low took the oath of office Monday, promising to restore public trust in the position his predecessor left under threat of impeachment.</p>

Average HMO Medicare Rate Set to Double

September 16, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Health: Premiums May Even Reach $179 a Month for Some. Little Change Seen for L.A., Orange Counties</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Medicare managed-care plans--often the only way low- and middle-income seniors can afford comprehensive health care--will more than double in cost next year for millions of older Americans.</p>

California: Lawmakers Advocate CHIP Expansion

September 15, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">American Healthline</p> <p>Backed by a "cadre of heath care workers and local activists," California Assembly members Bob Hertzberg (D) and Martin Gallegos (D) on this week called upon state and federal officials to expand the state's CHIP, Healthy Families, to 600,000 uninsured wo</p>

State is letting car insurers flout law, group says

September 13, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>Consumer advocates told an appeals court yesterday that the state is giving its blessing to insurance companies that violate a voter-approved measure to reduce auto insurance rates.</p>

California Looks for Solutions to Growing Lack of Health Coverage

September 13, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>With no work for nearly six months, electrician Michael Everett barely had money to survive, let alone supply medical coverage for his wife and daughter. An injury or sudden illness would have plunged his family into insurmountable debt.</p>

Watchdog Group Wants Northup to Support Patient’s Bill of Rights

September 12, 2000  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>Louisville, Ky -- A consumer group wants U.S. Rep. Anne Northup to give patients the right to sue managed care companies or give up her right to do the same as a federal employee. Jamie Court, executive director of the California-based Foundation for</p>

Patient-Advocacy Group Applies Pressure on Missouri Senators

September 12, 2000  ·  Jamie Court

<p class="source">Kansas City Star</p> <p>A patient-advocacy group Monday called on Missouri's two Republican senators to support a patients' bill of rights they had previously voted against. "The real patients' bill of rights is being held hostage in the Senate," Jamie Court, executive direct</p>

Reform Proposal Would Publicize Insurer Data

September 1, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>SACRAMENTO--In a reform linked to the California insurance commissioner scandal, confidential state studies of how insurance companies handle policyholder claims would become public under a last-minute bill that passed the Legislature Thursday and went</p>

JUDICIAL COUNCIL WEIGHS CURBS ON SEALED FILES, SECRET SETTLEMENTS

August 29, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Recorder</p> <p>Like thousands of others, this settlement would be secret, the opposing attorneys agreed. So a private school in La Jolla confidentially paid the parents of a 9-year- old black girl $7,500; in return, the parents dropped their claim that the school's</p>

POST-QUACKENBUSH REFORM BILL GAINS; REFORM: A COMMITTEE APPROVES CURBS ON POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY INSURERS.

August 25, 2000  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A CONTENTIOUS VOTE IS EXPECTED WHEN THE MEASURE REACHES THE FULL ASSEMBLY.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>A bill to clean up the scandal-ridden office of the California insurance commissioner by restricting campaign contributions from insurance companies cleared a key legislative committee Thursday, ensuring a crucial and probably contentious vote before the</p>