Consumer Watchdog – Protecting Patients - Articles

Sarah Palin, the Cruella DeVille of anti-government-health care, caught everyone's attention with the story of her family hopping the border from Skagway, Alaska, into the Yukon Territory for Canadian government health care when Palin was a child. Canadian newspapers noted cattily that Palin previously described going to Juneau, Alaska, for the same treatment for her brother's burned foot. Whatever. I wanted to know whether other Alaskans went to Canada for medical care--and still do.

Harvey Rosenfield, the founder of Consumer Watchdog and the author of California's landmark insurance regulation, is the original expert on making insurance companies friendlier to consumers. So when he outlines a plan to make health insurance more affordable--and combat price spikes like the recent 39% annual increase by Anthem Blue Cross--he's got 20 years in the trenches making insurance companies toe the line, to back him up.

Insurers Would Get Tens of Millions of New Customers Under Reform, and Owe Americans a Break from Audacious Rate Spikes By Anthem Blue Cross and Others

Washington, DC -- Consumer Watchdog called on President Obama to impose a national freeze on health insurance rates before health reform takes effect to protect consumers from premium hikes like the 39% increase recently announced by Anthem Blue Cross in California. The rate freeze is one of five tools Consumer Watchdog urged the president to include as part of his proposed fixes to the Senate health care bill.

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.

The President called for an up or down vote on health care reform, but I can say from my own experience this week working with Blue Cross patients, who are part of Consumer Watchdog’s lawsuit against he company, that the public has already cast its vote. 

President Obama's "get it done" speech on health reform Wednesday may have been a day late, but I hope it's not a dollar short, as the old saying goes. At least he has one tremendous ally in his call for action by Congress: Anthem Blue Cross, and the continuing outrage at its huge rate increases.

 

A consumer group has filed a class-action lawsuit against Anthem Blue Cross of California, alleging the company's strategy in deploying an average 25% rate increase for individual plan customers violates state law. The lawsuit was filed by Consumer Watchdog on behalf of two Anthem policyholders who are covered under a program the insurer closed to new enrollees on Sept. 25, 2009. This triggers a "death spiral" as rate increases fall to "those remaining in the closed book of business until they can no longer afford coverage," the lawsuit stated.

The company used controversial rate hikes, as high as 39 percent, to force older and sicker customers into high-deductible plans with fewer benefits so it could save money, Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog alleged in the complaint. The lawsuit seeks to end that tactic of "closing" an insurance product and raising rates to members while offering them cheaper plans, which plaintiffs say is known in the industry as the "death spiral."

On Monday, Consumer Watchdog filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Anthem Blue Cross, alleging that the insurer is forcing subscribers into a coverage "death spiral." The suit, filed in Ventura Superior Court, accuses Blue Cross of hiking premiums to force subscribers from benefit-rich policies to less expensive coverage with fewer benefits and higher deductibles. The scrutiny has been welcomed by many, including consumer health care advocacy groups.

The Santa Monica-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog brought the suit, saying Anthem violated a 1993 state law that requires health insurance companies to offer comparable coverage or minimal premium hikes if they cancel a policy. "Today's lawsuit is just the beginning of what is going to have to be a much more profound change in the state of California when it comes to healthcare," said Harvey Rosenfield, Consumer Watchdog's founder.