Protecting Patients

Holding Health Insurers Accountable

Mega-mergers have given HMOs, PPOs and other health insurers a stranglehold over our health care system. Coupled with inadequate regulatory oversight, insurance company profiteering and abusive practices are on the rise.

Consumer Watchdog research has found that health insurance companies keep 50% of our premium dollars for overhead and profit. As a result, we all pay more for less coverage. Health insurers also refuse to sell policies to those with minor health problems and cancel coverage when people get sick and need coverage the most.

Consumer Watchdog will work to crack down on health care industry waste and profitteering and put an end to junk insurance.

Recent Articles:

Hope for Patients Who Lost Policies

By Lisa Girion & Marc Lifsher, LOS ANGELES TIMES
April 18, 2008

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State Will Reinstate Canceled Health Policies

By Evan George, LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL
April 18, 2008

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26 to Get Back Health Coverage Taken Away

By Victoria Colliver, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
April 18, 2008

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Recent Posts in Protecting Patients:

Stem cell agency's conflicted board

One of the the problems with the California stem cell agency's board is that it is fraught with conflicts of interest. It was, in fact, designed that way in Proposition 71 which voters...

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San Francisco patient privacy compromised by fundraiser

Here's a perfect example of why a non-medical company with no relationship to the patient should never be allowed access to patient information without permission first - as a ...

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Should ad execs have access to your medical records?

A bill passed its second California Senate committee this week that would give an ever-wider circle of companies access to Californians' private medical information. SB 1096 by Senator Ron Calderon would allow pharmacies to give...

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Some medical researchers finally get it


I stumbled across a delightful article in The New York Times this morning: "Citing Ethics, Some Doctors Are Rejecting Industry Pay."

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Violence In the Union Hall, Will Stern Speak Out?

 Hundreds of Service Employee International Union (SEIU) staff and members stormed a progressive union gathering in Dearborn, Michigan this Saturday -- dispensing injuries, bruises and split heads to conference-goers at a Labor...

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