Consumer Watchdog Updates

Resist Corporate, Insurer 'Blackmail' Demands to Exempt Junk Insurance From Health Law, Group Tells White House

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:38:00 PDT

Insurers, Employers Threaten to Drop Low-Benefit Employee Insurance If $750,000 Annual Benefit Limit Is Enforced

Washington, DC — Americans were promised meaningful health benefits under health reform and deserve better than the near-worthless junk insurance that low-wage employers are lobbying to preserve, said Consumer Watchdog. The group urged President Obama to resist making wholesale exemptions to the new law.

Health Insurers Kill Real Rate Regulation Legislation; Insurer-Friendly Politicians Line Up Behind Proposal That Will Drive Up Rates in California

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:20:50 PDT

Jones/Feuer Effort Defeated; Schwarzenegger/Leno Bill Clears Legislature Allowing Insurers to Charge "Unreasonable" and "Unjustified" Premiums

Santa Monica, CA – Sacramento lawmakers, buffeted by hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance company contributions, defeated a strong insurance rate reform bill supported by consumer and labor organization (AB 2578- Jones/Feuer) late Tuesday night. Democratic opponents of the Jones/Feuer legislation supported an alternative bill, proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger and carried by Senator Mark Leno (SB 1163), that allows insurers to charge excessive health insurance premiums under a new, industry-preferred standard that merely requires rates to be "actuarially sound."

$800,000 In Campaign Cash From Health Insurers Stops Premium Regulation In Sacramento

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:38:00 PDT

Santa Monica, CA -- Some of the top Democratic recipients of health insurance cash teamed up with Republicans in the California state senate late Monday to block health insurance premium legislation authored by state Assembly Members Dave Jones and Mike Feuer. Overall health insurers have given $800,218 in campaign contributions to California senators since 2007, in addition to gifts and donations made at their behest to nonprofit groups according to an analysis by Consumer Watchdog.

Will 'progressives' let middle class burn to prove their point?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:23:00 PDT

When Anthem Blue Cross announced its controversial premium increases in California recently, the insurer claimed, "a carrier must be able to receive actuarially sound rates." So it is remarkable that "progressive" San Francisco State Senator Mark Leno, a single payer health care advocate, recently introduced eleventh hour legislation codifying Anthem Blue Cross's "actuarially sound" defense of premium increases in law.

Anthem Blue Cross Defense of Recent Rate Hikes Codified In New Sen. Leno Bill

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:34:36 PDT

Actuarial Soundness” Defense Protects Insurers At Expense of Rate Regulation, Consumer Watchdog Says

Los Angeles, CA -- Anthem Blue Cross’s defense of its recent controversial premium increases will be codified in law under eleventh hour legislation by San Francisco State Senator Mark Leno, SB 1163, just as the California legislature is set to adjourn Tuesday night. Consumer Watchdog, the group behind auto insurance regulation Prop 103 that has saved Californians $62 billion, warned that if health insurers can defend rates simply by having an actuary say the increases are “actuarial sound,” as Anthem Blue Cross did and Leno’s legislation provides, consumers will be in big trouble.

Google facing close DOJ scrutiny on ITA

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:42:00 PDT

Despite what the spinmeisters over at Google's Public Policy Blog would have you believe, the Internet giant is facing tough...

New rates at Blue Cross are a meager victory

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:40:00 PDT

At the shoe store, 40% off qualifies as at least pretty good. So why does regulators' approval of new, lower rates by Blue Cross of California not feel like victory? There are lots of reasons, but first is that the revised Blue Cross rate hikes are still in double digits, averaging 14% and as high as 20%, while average wages are still falling. And Blue Cross could announce another rate hike whenever it pleases, just as many insurers continue to do.

Health Law Changes Rules For Docs With In-House Imaging Machines

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:08:16 PDT

Physicians Must Disclose If They Own CT, MRI or PET Scanners

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, a national consumer advocacy group based in Santa Monica, Calif., said the new disclosure requirement may eventually lead patients to think hard about the financial relationship their doctor has. But in the short term, he said, the law will have little impact. "People will still defer to the white coat."

Health reform regulation scorecard: The big stuff is headed to court

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:03:00 PDT

Wouldn't it be great if we could all deduct our federal income and investment taxes from next year's income? And if we could also deduct that stress-reducing trip to a spa in Bora Bora? And if the government would just take our word for it? Fantasy for us, but the health insurance industry think that's what federal health reform ought to allow, on a corporate scale.

Seattle Story: Pretty good ending

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:33:00 PDT

The worst definitely didn't happen in Seattle. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners deferred the worst insurance industry demands for weakening the implementation of health care reform. For a body so closely linked to...

States Get Funds to Boost Oversight of Health Insurance Premiums

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:57:00 PDT

The $1-million grants, which went to all but five states, will help many expand public access to information about rate hikes and hire experts to review proposed charges.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration specifically ruled out seeking prior approval authority. Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based advocacy group, urged the administration to reject California's grant application, saying the grant would "prevent, not develop, any effective state regulation of health insurance rates." California nonetheless received its grant, which is to be used to streamline collection of data on proposed rate hikes.

Four House members blast Google-Verizon plan; call on FCC to act

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:03:00 PDT

Four members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, on Monday ...

Obama's victory lap in rush hour gridlocks LA to raise $1 million for Congress

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:55:00 PDT

It took my wife an hour and half to make the two mile commute home Monday, after the secret service closed some of LA's busiest streets at rush hour to shuttle the president from his Beverly Hills hotel to a fundraiser for Congress...

Seattle on Monday: Insurance commissioners blink in the spotlight

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:18:00 PDT

If there's one thing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners don't see much of, it's public attention. Now, however, it's got the attention of the media, consumer advocates and at least part of an increasingly aware public....

HHS rate review grants contain stand-outs and sabotage

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:13:00 PDT

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that HHS awarded $46 million in rate review grant funds to 45 states. But how much new protection will consumers gain from double-digit premium increases?

Seattle Showdown: How Much Say Will Health Insurance Industry Have Over New Health Reform Law?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:42:38 PDT

Insurance Commissioners and Obama Administration Must Resist More Weakening of Curbs on Industry Overhead and Profit, Says Consumer Watchdog

Seattle, WA --The nation’s state insurance commissioners are making far-reaching decisions in Seattle this week on whether health insurance companies will spend more on health care, less on their own overhead and investor profit. The decisions will affect whether insurance companies continue with double-digit premium increases and declines in the amount of actual health care they provide, or seek a more efficient business model that is as fair to consumers as it is to Wall Street, said Consumer Watchdog.

Captive Life Agents May Face Selling Conflicts After Financial Reform

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:31:00 PDT

OLDWICK, N.J. -- Certain life insurance agents and broker-dealer firms could face increased legal liability depending on how the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission rules on the fiduciary standard pertaining to the sale of investment products. The concern among affected parties is the possible increased legal liability or financial penalties from the SEC if they don't meet the new standard, said Carmen Balber, director of the Washington, D.C. office of Consumer Watchdog.

ObamaCare's Loss Ratio Rules Are Out Of Balance, Critics Say

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:48:00 PDT

As part of ObamaCare, the federal government will impose strict new spending rules on health insurers. How it does so could have a sweeping impact on the industry and patient care. "We believe that insurance companies will get enough goodies out of the new "medical loss ratio" (MLR) law that they will not have to do business any differently," said Consumer Watchdog's Judy Dugan. "If a nursing line is something where a nurse can advise a patient on treatment, sure, that may be a medical expense. But if it is just to determine if a patient needs to see a doctor, that's just cost containment."

BP's tax-subsidized cleanup workers from the chain gang

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:15:00 PDT

You think you're done being mad at BP? You're over the fact that it's still getting piles of U.S. taxpayer subsidies, including subsidies on its cleanup payments? Think again. Jim Hightower, the Texas populist and scourge of misbehaving corporations, tells us that BP isn't just hiring out-of-work Florida Pandhandle folks--it's using semicamouflaged prison labor, and the scary fellas come with a $2,500 per-head subsidy.