Insurance

Should State Regulate Health Insurance Premiums?

June 20, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Twenty-three years ago, California voters decided the state should have more control over the insurance industry. Proposition 103, approved by a thin margin (51%) in 1988, increased the Department of Insurance's clout in a number of areas -- most notably automobile insurance -- and changed the status of the California insurance commissioner's job from being a governor appointee to an elected officer.</p> <p> Absent from that ballot initiative two decades ago was health insurance.</p>

Horror Tales From Insurance Land

June 15, 2011  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2126" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/insurance_0.jpg" style="width: 211px; height: 239px;" width="211" height="239" />I'm sure California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones knew what he was in for when he called together a few dozen consumer-focused organizations to talk about their issues with insurance--health, auto, home, long term care and more.</p> <p> The stories filled a day, and could have gone on for days more--of payment and care denied, policies that turn out not to be what was advertised.</p>

12.5 Million People Want to Know … What Up’s with the Fogel Settlement?

June 15, 2011  ·  Jerry Flanagan

<p> By the end of this week, 12.5 million current and former Farmers insurance customers across the country will <img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2039" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/farmerslogo_1.gif" style="width: 120px; height: 90px; float: right;" width="120" height="90" />get a notice in the mail about a pending class action settlement.  That notice provides consumers information about their rights under the settlement, which provides $455 million to consumers. Consumer Watchdog has intervened in the lawsuit to object to the settlement on the following grounds:</p>

Long Term Insurance Scams: Hung Out to Dry, Unable to Fight Back

June 14, 2011  ·  Laura Antonini

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2121" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/longtermcarescams.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 179px;" width="361" height="259" />Everyone knows that insurance companies don’t like to pay claims when we get sick or injured, and long-term care insurance companies are no different. However, abuses including unjust denials of care are more disturbing when they harm the elderly and disabled.</p>

Private Insurance vs. Medicare: Truth in Numbers

June 13, 2011  ·  Judy Dugan

<p> Sometimes it takes just a couple of numbers to clarify a huge, complex issue--In this case, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html?_r=1&hp">what to do about Medicare.</a> Medicare costs are up 400% since 1969--scary, right? But private health insurance premiums in the same period are up 700%--nearly twice as scary.<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2119" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/medicare_vs_private_insurance.png" style="margin: 10px; width: 546px; height: 424px; float: right;" width="543" height="422" /></p>

Grocery Strike Possible: Food Fight Gets Messy Over Memo U.S. Health Care Aid Info Sent To Workers

June 11, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Vons employees, on the verge of striking, are outraged that the company has notified them about government programs that offer assistance paying for health care.<br /> <br /> Vons says it was required because of a new federal law.<br /> <br /> For 25 years, Arlene Romero has had health insurance while working as a cashier at the Vons on Telegraph Road at Victoria Avenue in Ventura. When she received the information in the mail, her mouth dropped open.</p>

Health Insurance Brokers Got 2800% Pay Increase In Last Decade–And Want More

June 9, 2011  ·  Judy Dugan

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An Answer For Blue Shield: Limit Premiums, Not Profits

June 8, 2011  ·  Jamie Court

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Blue Shield of California To Cut Many Premiums 2.5% This Year

June 8, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <b>Health insurer Blue Shield says its initiative will result in $167 million in savings for nearly 2 million customers.</b></p> <p> Health insurer Blue Shield of California, under fire for a series of recent rate hikes and the pay of its chief executive, plans to cut this year's premiums by 2.5% for many of its 3.3 million policyholders as part of a new initiative to hold down costs.</p>

Limit Insurance Premiums, Not Profits

June 8, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> The following op-ed commentary by Consumer Watchdog's president Jamie Court, was <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/08/EDPE1JQTJJ.DTL">published Wednesday, June 8, 2011 in the San Francisco Chronicle</a>.</p> <p>  </p>

Blue Shield Says It’s Capping Profits

June 8, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> In what it called a "bold move" to cut health care costs, Blue Shield of California said Tuesday it will cap profits at 2 percent of revenue and pump any extra cash back into credits for customers, funding to care providers and grant awards to nonprofits that provide health care to poor Californians.</p> <p> "This doesn't solve the affordability problem, but it does represent a paradigm shift for a health plan," said Blue Shield Chief Executive Officer Bruce Bodaken, in prepared remarks ahead of a speech on the plan in San Francisco on Tuesday.</p>

Blue Shield of California pays back $180 million

June 7, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Blue Shield of California, one of the largest insurers in the state, says it has enacted a new rule that will allow it to pay back  its customers $180 million in excess profit.<br /> <br /> The new rule limits its annual income to 2% of revenue and requires any profit in excess of that to be returned to customers and the community.<br /> <br /> The rule is being implemented retroactively to 2010 when the insurer earned $315 million in profit and $10 billion in revenue.<br /> <br />