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Modesto Assemblyman Tom Berryhill (R) has introduced a bill that would allow insurers to drop some four-dozen coverage mandates. These include overnight hospital stays for new mothers. Jerry Flanagan is with the non-profit Consumer Watchdog. "If you take those laws away, insurance companies can still charge as much as they want, but provide far less health care," Flanagan argues. "That's really good for the insurance company, because they can keep more of our money for themselves; it's the last thing you want to do for patients."

Workers at a Portland, Ore., steel mill soon will be able to pick a new type of insurance that offers free care for some illnesses, such as diabetes or depression, but requires hefty extra fees for treatments deemed overused, including knee replacements, hysterectomies and heart bypass surgery. The policies are among the first to apply financial incentives on both sides of one important factor driving up the nation's health care tab: The underuse of proven treatments and overuse of certain surgeries and diagnostic tests that may be less valuable. But efforts to charge workers more for some treatments put employers in the position of "playing doctor" and are well into a "danger zone of... limiting access to medical care," says Jerry Flanagan of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.

 

President Obama should include a provision freezing health insurance rates in the package of revisions Democrats are drafting for the Senate-passed health care overhaul bill (HR 3590), a California-based consumer group said Wednesday. Other provisions that the Consumer Watchdog group wants to see included are a requirement that state regulators approve rate increases before they go into effect, and that federal grants be made available to states for developing these "prior approval" regulations. "Given the audacity of health insurance rate increases last year and this year, and with the economy in deep recession, only federal legislation can curb the spiral of unaffordability," said Carmen Balber, the Washington director for the group.

The response to slumping gasoline use would likely mean higher prices for drivers. Consumer advocates want regulators to examine the firms' plans.

Consumer advocates want regulators to probe refinery closures or consolidations that slash supply. Judy Dugan, research director for the Santa Monica-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said that "closing or selling refineries to others who would limit production would be a serious case of corporate irresponsibility."

LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) ― State insurance regulators on Wednesday defended their actions against health insurers after a report showed few consumers who complained that their coverage was canceled after they took ill actually benefited from state-negotiated settlements. The settlements may not have appealed to many consumers because they were "very stilted towards insurance companies," said Jerry Flanagan, a health advocate for Consumer Watchdog. Consumers weren't allowed to hire lawyers for arbitration, and had to prove all their past medical bills were "medically necessary, which is a hard legal standard to meet" without a lawyer's help. Additionally, the coverage that was offered through arbitration was usually a policy with a lower benefit than the wrongfully rescinded policy, said Flanagan.

California's Consumer Watchdog group is suing Anthem Blue Cross after they raised health care insurance premiums 39 percent, but the company isn't budging. Meanwhile Goldman Sachs recommended buying health insurance company stock because competition is decreasing and prices are going up. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College estimates that "the typical married couple at age 65 should expect to spend" a whopping $197,000 on uninsured medical expenses. Obama urges action on a watered-down health care bill, but the Republicans and conservative Democrats just say no and collect money from the private health care lobby. Will we continue to tolerate skyrocketing health care costs?

Google sees an Internet far more crowded with competitors than just a year ago. At least, that's what the company is telling government regulators. Critics of Google's dominance in search — Americans use Google for about two thirds of U.S. searches, and the company has more than 70 percent of U.S. search advertising revenue, and about 90 percent in Europe — say the expanded list of competitors is an attempt by Google to paper over its dominance. "I think they are feeling the heat from several serious antitrust investigations, and that's reflected in the language they are using in the 10-K," said John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog. He argued in a recent blog post that Google's statements that it has many competitors actually proves that "the opposite is actually true" and that "the real risk to Google's business is not from competition," but that regulators in the U.S. and Europe "will act in the interest of consumers and force the Internet giant to engage" in competition.

Opponents, including Doug Heller, who works with Proposition 103 author Harvey Rosenfield at Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, said the real aim of Mercury is to lift the ban on surcharges for drivers who need to reinstate coverage after letting their auto insurance policies lapse. “This would allow Mercury to jack up prices for customers they don’t really want,” said Heller, spokesman for Campaign for Consumer Rights, the main opposition group to Proposition 17.

A judge will hear testimony on three related cases surrounding ballot language for Proposition 17, which backers say will allow discounts for more drivers and opponents claim will create back-door rate increases. The latest is Attorney General Jerry Brown's attempt to change the official title and summary to say the measure "will allow insurance companies to increase cost of insurance to drivers who do not have a history of continuous insurance coverage," according to the lawsuit. Due to what Brown's office argued is its error, the language submitted by the attorney general to the California Secretary of State reads, "may allow insurance companies to increase cost of insurance to drivers who do not qualify for discount."

There have been demands for explanations from state and federal lawmakers as well as the White House. Documents of financial records have been subpoenaed. Last week, Consumer Watchdog filed a lawsuit in Ventura County Superior Court alleging the insurer doesn’t offer adequate alternatives when it closes a policy.