Insurance

Indiana latest state seeking to evade health reform

October 10, 2011  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> <img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2215" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images_carmenbdrawingname.gif" style="width: 133px; height: 200px; float: right; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px;" width="133" height="200" />One of the pack of states that has challenged the health reform law in court, Indiana is now the latest state to have a final application pending with federal regulators to escape the law’s most basic consumer protection: the requirement that health insurers spend at least 80% of premiums on actual medical care, instead of administrative waste and excessive profits.</p>

Jerry Brown gives birthday present to the 99% on 100th anniversary of ballot initiative process

October 10, 2011  ·  Jamie Court

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2271" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/images_jamie4drawingname.gif" style="width: 133px; height: 200px; " width="133" height="200" />With a simple signature, California Governor Jerry Brown has struck a blow for populism in the ballot initiative process by signing a new law to clarify that all ballot initiatives be voted on in November, when twice the number of voters show up, rather than in primary elections.</p>

Farmers Refunds May Elude Texans

October 10, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> AUSTIN, TX - Thousands of Farmers Insurance's Texas policy holders will probably miss out on a proposed $455 million settlement in a national class action lawsuit that accused the company of illegally inflating auto and homeowner rates by charging excessive management fees.<br /> <br />

How Mercury Insurance Is Poisoning The California Initiative Process

October 10, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2274" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/images_mercurybill-front.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 130px;" width="800" height="346" /></p>

The “Better Sick Than Subsidized” Plan to Cut the Deficit

October 6, 2011  ·  Judy Dugan

<p>

Sparks Fly In Fight Over Health-Care Regulation

October 6, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> An intense political flap has left one of the year’s most important pieces of legislation stalled on the Senate floor and the removal of a consumer advocacy group’s disputed TV spot targeting the chair of the Senate Health Committee.</p> <p> <br /> The Democrat-on-Democrat fight between Senate moderates and the rest of the caucus also raised eyebrows in the Capitol about Consumer Watchdog, a highly visible advocacy group that goes after insurers and other deep-pocket interests on behalf of consumers.</p>

Susan Braig – Altadena, CA

October 5, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Seven years ago, at age 54, I was self-employed and of modest means, but completely debt-free. I had health insurance, but rarely made a claim. Today I am a 62-year old uninsured cancer survivor on the verge of bankruptcy from medical debt. I am too young for Medicare, too early for the Affordable Care Act and I have a pre-existing condition that denies me private insurance even if I could afford it.</p> <p> I am sharing my story in the hope it will lead to affordable health insurance that will help millions of people like me when they need it the most.</p>

Janet Kassouf – Hayward, CA

October 5, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>Blue Cross rate hikes</strong></p> <p>My family has a Blue Cross individual family PPO. This year the premium alone is $2222 a month—that’s $26,664 a year. The policy cost only $495 a month in 2002. As recently as 2009 the premium was just over $1500 a month. So in two years the annual cost is up $8400 a year and my deductible is up during the same period from $1500 to $1725. My copays are up as well, from 20% to 30%.</p>

Mary Feller – Santa Rosa, CA

October 5, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <strong><img class=" size-full wp-image-2265" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/images_fellers.jpg" style="width: 258px; height: 345px;" width="478" height="640" />Blue Cross Rate Hikes</strong></p> <p> I’m a freelance entertainment writer and my husband is an international urban development consultant. So, we don’t have employer health insurance. We’ve have had an individual Blue Cross family policy since 1992.  When we first signed on, the cost was $203 a month for our family of three.  In 2001 we were still only paying $318 a month.</p>

Cathy Kay – Sherman Oaks, CA

October 5, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> I have a Blue Cross PPO Share 2500 individual plan and just got my premium invoice for May 1^st. My premium increases by 17.3%, on top of a 19% increase last fall. That means my premium, which was $526 per month last October (prior to the fall increase), will now be $736.  In October of 2008, my premium was only $441. In addition, only four months into this year, my annual deductible is increasing from $2500 to $2950, my annual maximum is increasing from $7,500 to $8,850 and all of the other copays are going up substantially as well.</p>

“Fracking” for natural gas gets some attention, but so far it’s just yakking

October 4, 2011  ·  Judy Dugan

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2206" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images_judydrawingname.gif" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; float: right; width: 133px; height: 200px; " width="133" height="200" />Exxon Mobil, which is making big bets worldwide on hydraulic fracturing for deeply buried natural gas, is also making big bets on its <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ExxonMobil">sincere, earnest advertising</a> about clean, safe natural gas. The ads turn me into a crazy person, yelling at the television during halftimes and seventh-inning stretches.</p>

The U.S. Supreme Court Vs. Insurance Premiums?

September 29, 2011  ·  Jamie Court

<p>