Insurance for a Cancer Survivor — The disease hasn’t recurred in 20 years, but coverage is still pricey.
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<strong>HEALTH 411</strong></p>
Insurance
Insurance news, investigations, and reform — auto, home, and health insurance rates, claims denials, and industry accountability.
Health Plan Hikes Reveal Bad Blood
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A loud hissing contest on California's left political flank began weeks before the state's largest health insurance companies announced the other day they plan to raise average rates by 8 percent to 14 percent for thousands of consumers with individual policies — well over twice the 3.6 percent increase in their annual costs.</p>
Proposed Ballot Measure Seeks Tougher Health Insurance Rate Regulation
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In more than 30 states, government insurance departments have the authority to reject what they determine to be excessive rate hikes for health insurance. But not in California. Earlier this month, consumer advocates launched a drive to put an initiative on the November ballot to let voters decide if California’s Insurance Commissioner should have this power.</p>
Consumer Advocates, Unions Back Health Care Ballot Measures
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Consumer advocates and labor unions are looking to tap into Californians' anxiety over health care costs with ballot measures targeting insurance companies and hospitals.</p>
California Health Insurers To Raise Average Rates 8% to 14%
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<strong>The proposed premium hikes for hundreds of thousands of California consumers with individual coverage would outpace the cost of overall medical care, which has risen just 3.6% in the last year.</strong><br />
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California's largest health insurers are raising average rates by about 8% to 14% for hundreds of thousands of consumers with individual coverage, outpacing the costs of overall medical care.<br />
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Proposal Could Limit Health Insurance Rate Hikes
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A volunteer-backed citizens’ group calling itself <a href="http://www.justifyrates.org/index.php" rel="nofollow">Consumer Watchdog</a> is pushing an initiative that would give the state insurance commissioner the power to reject excessive hikes in health care rates.</p>
War Hero Sues Insurance Company for Denial of Benefits
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It seems no good deed goes unpunished. A temporarily disabled Korean War veteran in California is <a href="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/resources_hallfiledsc2-7-12.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suing the Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania</a> (SHIP) for allegedly engaging in deceptive practices to avoid paying claims the plaintiff says should have been covered.</p>
Texas To Renew Farmers Overcharge Case
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AUSTIN, TX -- Farmers Insurance agreed recently to a national class-action settlement that included up to $90 million in restitution for its Texas customers for homeowners and auto rates that were too high, but a related case may once again be revived in the state.<br />
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The Texas case - the first class-action insurance lawsuit ever filed by the attorney general's office - stems from a homeowners insurance rate dispute between the state and Farmers that first flared during the 2002 governor's race.<br />
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Tere Rice – Temecula, CA
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<img class=" size-full wp-image-2378" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/images_tererice.jpeg" style="width: 96px; height: 112px;" width="96" height="112" />I feel I am at the mercy of Anthem Blue Cross, which has raised my health insurance rate by almost 50% since 2006. Another $65 a month increase will kick in April 1, bringing the premium to $861 a month and more than $10,000 a year. The policy has a $1,500 deductible and 30% copays, with many kinds of treatment excluded from the deductible. The increase just since just 2010 has been 33%, while my income from real estate sales is stagnant at best in this market.</p>
Ballot Measure Would Regulate Heath Insurance Premiums in California
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<a href="http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/feb/20/ballot-measure-would-regulate-heath-insurance-prem/">Click here to listen to the audio of this news broadcast</a>.</p>
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<strong>Consumer advocates are trying to get a measure on the fall ballot that would allow the state to regulate health insurance premiums.</strong></p>
Taking the Initiative in a Struggle Against Excessive Rate Increases
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The biggest applause line Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) got at a gathering of Democratic Party activists last week came when she endorsed a ballot initiative to give the California Insurance Commissioner power to reject excessive health insurance rate increases.</p>
Feinstein, Jones Boost Health Insurance Initiative at Dem Convention
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<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2374" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/feinsteinandjones.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 161px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;" width="250" height="161" />Two heavyweights - Senator Dianne Feinstein and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones - went to bat for health reform at the Democratic Convention in San Diego this weekend, and activists' embrace of their call to action was loud and immediate.</p>