Insurance

Laurel Kaufer – San Fernando Valley, CA

January 23, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> As a self-employed single mother with two sons, I have struggled for more than a decade to balance the cost of health care and health insurance with the need to seek medical help. Our high-deductible health insurance policy with Blue Cross meant wrenching days of weighing a child’s spiking fever or sports injury against the out-of-pocket cost of seeing a doctor—or, even worse, going to an emergency room.</p>

Latest Auto Insurance Brawl ‘Not Personal’

January 22, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> From the courts to the Capitol to the ballot, insurance magnate George Joseph and attorney Harvey Rosenfield, who wrote the 1988 initiative that regulated auto insurance, have been butting heads for a quarter century.</p> <p> They assure me it's not personal.</p> <p> There was nothing personal in 2009 when Consumer Watchdog, the Santa Monica advocacy group founded by Rosenfield, bought billboard space on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles declaring, "You Can't Trust Mercury Insurance," the company that Joseph founded 50 years ago.</p>

Auto Insurance Discount Initiative Approved For Ballot

January 19, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> An automobile insurance discount initiative, more than 99% bankrolled by the chairman of Mercury Insurance, has qualified to go before voters on November's ballot.</p> <p> Officially sponsored by a trade group, the American Agents Alliance, the proposal would provide motorists, who switch insurance companies, with a discount if they had been previously insured.</p> <p> Passage of the initiative, whose petitions got signatures from almost 505,000 registered voters, would make the automobile insurance market more competitive, supporters argue.</p>

Consumer Advocates Push for Greater Health Plan Rate Regulations

January 17, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> One year after a new law (<a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/sen/sb_1151-1200/sb_1163_bill_20100930_chaptered.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SB 1163</a>) expanded state officials' ability to review health plan rates, some consumer advocates are calling for greater power to regulate insurance rates, the <a href="http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-area-news/ci_19740425" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Contra Costa Times</i></a> reports.</p> <p class="subheading"> <strong>Background</strong></p>

Thomas Richardson – San Diego, CA

January 16, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p><img class=" size-full wp-image-2356" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/images_thomasrichardson.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 225px;" width="1200" height="900" />(Updated January 2013)</p> <p>We’ve just been notified that the Blue Shield policy covering me and my wife is rising 11% from $1090.00 a month to $1219.00 a month as of March 1, 2013, with $5500 deductibles and 30% copays for both my wife and me.</p>

California Needs Reasonable Controls On Health Care Premiums

January 16, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> California should join the majority of states across the nation, 36 of 50, that have authority to control health insurance rate hikes.</p> <p> A consumer group is expecting to begin collecting signatures within the next few days to put a regulatory measure on the November ballot. They should work to give California voters the opportunity to voice their opinion on how much regulation is needed over an industry raking in record profits.</p>

California Regulators Still Have Little Power Over Insurance Rate Hikes

January 16, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> California regulators last year won expanded authority to scrutinize health insurance rate hikes, but their continued lack of real power has consumers gearing up for a new battle with the insurance industry over rate regulation.<br /> <br /> The new law permits regulators to conclude a rate hike is excessive, but they can only try to persuade or shame insurers into backing off.<br /> <br /> Consumers want California to join the 36 states with some form of rate control.<br /> <br />

Consumers Are Taking The Fight To Health Insurance Companies!

January 15, 2012  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> California's health care system is broken. Health insurance premiums rose a whopping 153.5% since 2002, more than five times the rate of inflation. Health insurance companies set premiums in secret, and don't tell anyone how or why they raise our rates. It's no surprise that we're being ripped off.</p> <p> From the front page of <a href="http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_19745736">this morning's Contra Costa Times</a>:</p>

Feds to Health Insurer: Rate Hikes Unreasonable? Carry On.

January 13, 2012  ·  Carmen Balber

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Patrick Killelea – Menlo Park, CA

January 13, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2353" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/images_killelea.jpg" style="width: 180px; height: 212px;" width="180" height="212" />Blue Shield raised our rates 73% in one year—check out the chart below. We have a very high deductible plan because I'm trying to be self-employed and that's all I could afford on my own. Our deductible is $8000 per person so it covers basically nothing but catastrophic care. The premium was $447 per month a year ago. Now it’s $777 per month. This is utterly insane. 73% in one year!</p>

HHS Calls Trustmark’s Health Insurance Increases In Five States “Unreasonable”

January 13, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> WASHINGTON – The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that an independent review of proposed health insurance rate increases by Trustmark Life Insurance Company affecting members in five states are “unreasonable.”</p>

Is The New “Car of the Year” Hiding Something?

January 12, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <strong>The newly crowned car has lots of complaints about one of its most heavily advertised features</strong><br /> <br /> It has no doubt been a banner week for Hyundai Motors at the Detroit Auto Show, hauling in two big awards for "Car of The Year," and the brand with the highest customer loyalty. But it has its detractors too.<br /> <br />