Insurance

Anthem Blue Cross Seeks To Raise Individual Policyholders’ Rates

November 28, 2012  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p><b>California's largest for-profit health insurer proposes an average rate hike of 18%, but some Anthem customers may see increase of as much as 25% in February.</b><br />  </p>

Wealth As A Lever For Social Change

November 19, 2012  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p>Tom Steyer wore the same plaid wool tie that he wore the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that.</p> <p>"It's superstition," he said, in his office at One Maritime Plaza, which has a billion-dollar view of Coit Tower and San Francisco Bay.</p> <p><br /> As he often does, he used a pen that morning to draw a simple cross on his wrist, with smaller crosses in each quadrant. He didn't want to talk about it, but has a spiritual side that he keeps private, and says he feels obligated to do his part to preserve the Earth for the next generation.</p>

Congressional Hearings Called For In Hyundai MPG Sticker Scandal

November 19, 2012  ·  Jamie Court

<p><em><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2597" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/hyundailogo.png" style="width: 273px; height: 184px; float: right;" width="273" height="184" />Washington, DC</em> – Consumer Watchdog today called upon leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees to hold hearings into the revelation by the EPA that for the first time in American history large numbers of vehicles carried window stickers with false MPG claims.<br /> <br />

Insurer Plan to Weaken Health Reform Would Increase Deficit $1 Billion

November 9, 2012  ·  Carmen Balber

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2524" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/images_healthdollars.png" style="width: 175px; height: 94px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;" width="375" height="201" />Lost in the ongoing election postmortem was this <a href="https://consumerwatchdog.org/resources/cbohr1206.pdf">report yesterday from the Congressional Budget Office</a> that a bill being pushed by the insurance industry and its salespeople to eliminate one of the strongest consumer protections in the health reform law would increase the deficit by more than $1 billion and raise health insurance costs for consumers.</p>

Will the billionaires learn the rules of ballot measures?

November 8, 2012  ·  Jamie Court

<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2521" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/victorysign.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 116px; float: right;" width="86" height="100" />Insurance companies learned a lesson election night in California:  Don’t try to fool the voters or you’ll be the one looking foolish.<br /> <br /> <b>Thanks to your help voters saw through one insurance billionaire’s deceptive campaign and rejected Prop 33 with 55% opposed</b>.<br /> <br />

Prop. 33 Fight Over Auto Insurance Pricing Ends In Defeat

November 7, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p>SACRAMENTO — A Los Angeles insurance executive's drive to boost his company's fortunes by seeking authority to offer a new auto coverage discount got trounced by voters.</p> <p>Proposition 33, bankrolled by Mercury General Corp. Chairman George Joseph, lost with 45.4% of the vote to opposition of 54.6% with all California precincts reporting.</p> <p>The measure would have allowed insurers such as Mercury to give low-risk drivers a new discount when they switch companies.</p>

Voters Reject Bid To Change Insurance Rate-Setting

November 7, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p><span class="SS_L3"><span class="verdana">LOS ANGELES, CA -- </span></span><span class="SS_L3"><span class="verdana">For the second time in three years, voters have rejected a ballot initiative that would have let auto insurers charge drivers based on their history of maintaining coverage.</span></span></p> <p class="loose"><span class="SS_L3"><span class="verdana"><span class="hit"><span>Proposition 33</span></span> failed Tuesday with about 55 percent voting against.</span></span></p>

Proposition 33 Opponents Ready To Take On Health Insurers

November 7, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p>SACRAMENTO -- The consumer activists that defeated the Proposition 33 auto insurance initiative, despite their small budget, are crowing over their victory and spoiling for a new fight.</p> <p>This tiime, it's with the health insurance industry.</p> <p>Consumer Watchdog of Santa Monica is winding up its own initiative on the 2014 ballot to regulate health insurance rates in much the same way the state oversees auto insurance premiums under California's landmark Proposition 103 law of 1988.</p>

Californians Lump Props. 32 and 33; a Referendum on the ‘B’ Word

November 7, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The “B” word may have been the most lethal weapon against an automobile insurance portable persistency initiative put to Californians, the second such initiative in the last two years to be defeated.</p> <p>California’s Proposition 33, <a href="http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/01/20/231971.htm" target="_blank" title="Auto Insurance Discount Act Qualifies For California Ballot" rel="noopener">the 2012 Automobile Insurance Discount Act</a>, was defeated with 54.6 percent voting against it, while it got 45.4 “yes” votes.</p>

Prop 33: Car Insurance Changes Defeated

November 7, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>SACRAMENTO</strong> -- Voters rejected <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/propositions/">Proposition</a> 33, a measure that would have allowed car insurers to offer discounts to drivers who maintain continuous coverage and raise rates on those who do not have a consistent history of coverage.</p>

Please Vote No On Prop 33 Today

November 6, 2012  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2515" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stopprop33.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px; float: right; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px;" width="550" height="550" />For the last 25 years, I've worked day and night to keep insurance rates low here in California. That's why I'm <strong>OPPOSED to PROP 33</strong>, the Mercury Insurance Company Initiative…and I need your help to get the word out.<br /> <br />

Prop. 33 Likely To Produce More, Not Fewer, Uninsured Drivers

November 5, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The campaign in favor of Proposition 33 has been so consistently misleading, it's almost pointless to keep criticizing the measure's supporters for warping the facts. Nevertheless, an advertisement Monday in favor of the measure makes a point that bears rebutting before voters head to the polls.</p>