Affordable Car & Home Insurance

For more than 20 years, Consumer Watchdog has been the nation's leading insurance reform organization and has saved consumers tens of billions of dollars.

Consumer Watchdog & Prop. 103 Savings
See how much money Consumer Watchdog and Prop. 103 have saved Californians in recent years >>.

Over the years we have:

  • Enforced the nation's most stringent insurance reform law, California's Prop 103, authored by Consumer Watchdog founder Harvey Rosenfield;
  • Saved California drivers $62 billion since passage (1989-2006);
  • Drafted and won passage of the nation's first low-cost auto insurance policy for low-income motorists;
  • Fought for fair auto insurance rates, and recently ended (in California) the decades-old discriminatory practice of ZIP code-based auto insurance rates, so California premiums are based primarily on a driver's record not where they live;
    See interview with Prop 103 author Harvey Rosenfield here:

  • Challenged excessive homeowners insurance rates, forcing companies to charge about a half-billion dollars less than they proposed in recent years; and,
  • Saved doctors more than $60 million by challenging medical malpractice insurance rate hikes, demonstrating that insurance regulation, rather than limits on the rights of injured patients, is key to keeping doctors' insurance premiums down. Go to our Protecting Patients campaign for more about medical malpractice.

When citizen volunteers beat back the record-breaking $80 million insurance industry-funded campaign against Proposition 103, they set in motion a fight to keep insurance prices fair and companies honest that Consumer Watchdog carries on to this day.

In DC and in every state, insurance companies have armies of lobbyists, lawyers and "experts" working to keep rates too high and regulation of industry practices too weak. Drivers, homeowners and businesses are required to buy insurance products, but in most states the insurance companies have won almost total freedom from oversight and consumer protection.

California's Prop 103 is the exception. At Consumer Watchdog we fight in the legislature, regulatory agencies and court to protect this reform and expand it.

Recent Articles:

California Group Urges National Freeze On Health Insurance Rates

By John Reichard, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY HEALTHBEAT
March 10, 2010

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Insurance Regulation Expert Calls For Freeze Of Health Rates Until 'Prior Approval' Regulation Is Adopted

CONTACT: Jerry Flanagan, (310) 889-4912; or Carmen Balber, (202) 629-3043
March 10, 2010

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Auto Insurer Revs Measure's Motor

By Howard Fine, THE LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL
March 8, 2010

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Revisions to Health Care Reform Must Include Rate Freeze, Rate Regulation and States' Rights Provisions, Says Consumer Watchdog

CONTACT: Jerry Flanagan, (310) 889-4912; or Judy Dugan, (310) 392-0522, ext. 305
March 8, 2010

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Recent Posts in Affordable Car & Home Insurance:

Health insurance premium curbs are catching on

Consumer Watchdog's calls for tough and open health insurance rate regulation are being echoed and amplified. The latest instance is in Connecticut, the home state of insurance companies, where Attorney General Earl Blumenthal recently proposed major reforms that would require the state to review and reject, modify or allow a rate change before it goes into effect. No more shrugging and letting it happen without a public review.

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Jerry Brown gets it right on Prop 17's Title & Summary

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued his final ballot label for Proposition 17, the Mercury Insurance-financed ballot measure to surcharge those with lapses in auto insurance coverage.  Brown got the ballot label right this time, acknowledging Prop 17 allowed insurers to increase premiums, as well as lower prices, based on whether a driver has a lapse in insurance coverage.

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Anthem as "Exhibit A"

Kevin Sack hits it right on the head in today's New York Times with his story about how Anthem's 39% premium increase in California embodies the need for health care reform. The missing element is prior approval health insurance regulation.

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Chronicle reveals discrimination at Mercury Insurance, Soldiers targeted

In case all those ads about how great insurance companies are was starting to make you feel all fuzzy inside, Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle just posted a revealing and disturbing look into the widespread discrimination at California's 3rd largest auto insurer, Mercury Insurance....

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Inside Jerry Brown's brain, the illegal tapes

It's rare that you get to hear what's in the brain of a powerful politician because his phone conversations were taped.

Listening to Jerry Brown opine, berate and spin reporters about their age, his age, what they should...

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Mercury Scrutinized By Regulators For Breaking The Law While Trying To Pass Prop 17

Mercury's Deceptive Initiative

Celebrating 20 Years of Prop 103

Prop 103 Credited with $61.7 Billion in Savings