Protecting Patients

Affordable Medicines

A handful of prescription drug companies control the majority of patents on new drugs and charge prices far in excess of the cost of producing the medications. The newest cancer fighting drugs are priced beyond the reach of many patients who need them.

Consumer Watchdog research has found that most prescription drugs are developed in large part with taxpayer funds. Uninsured and insured patients, business owners and government programs all benefit from prescription drug bulk purchasing in the form of better discounts and rebates.

Read about Consumer Watchdog's efforts to build support for a U.S. bulk-purchasing program.

Recent Articles:

CDPH Won't Discuss Distribution Of H1N1 Vaccine

By Staff Reporters, KCRA TV-3 (Sacramento, CA)
January 7, 2010

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It's Not Too Late To Mend The Ailing Health Care Bill

By Bill Boyarsky, TRUTHDIG.COM
December 29, 2009

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New Prescription Drug Program Drawing Fire

By Rick Orlov, THE DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES
December 26, 2009

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Recent Posts in Protecting Patients:

Insurance rate curbs continue to gain steam

The latest round of exhorbitant rate increases nationally has helped more and more people recognize what Consumer Watchdog has been arguing for the last year: Congress cannot require all Americans to purchase insurance from the for-profit insurance industry without real oversight of what they charge ...

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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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Sarah Palin wasn't the only Alaskan border-hopping for health care

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.

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The no. 1 cure for Anthem Blue Cross greed: Here's the plan, from the expert

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.

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Thanks Blue Cross, you gave the public its reason to reform

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. 

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Anthem Blue Cross Rate Hikes

Excerpts From Jamie Court's Dateline Interview Covering Health Insurer Hell