[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rick Jacobs
Chair
The Courage Campaign

This is personal.

I was quite surprised when I learned that Terry McAuliffe was going to appear at a major convention of health insurance corporations in San Francisco on June 19.

After all, how could the former Chair of the Democratic National Committee show up as a guest of health insurance executives -- much less accept any money for his appearance at the AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) convention? This appearance seems inappropriate at best, especially after Barack Obama and Howard Dean courageously directed the Democratic National Committee last week to reject contributions from lobbyists, including the health insurance industry.

And now it's personal. My sister, who suffers from severe and rapidly deteriorating hearing loss, just told me that she has been denied useful health care coverage. Again. Why? Because her hearing problems have been diagnosed as a "pre-existing condition," precluding her from receiving cochlear implants so she can hear again.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

There they go again.

After needlessly holding up the budget for months last summer with the same failed strategy, Senate Republicans yesterday signaled their intent to try to weaken the state's environmental and labor laws as the price for their support of the state budget again this year. Included in this year's demands are a delay in the state's landmark global warming law, repeal of the eight-hour day labor law signed by Gov. Davis, a plan to aid the health insurance industry, and relaxing compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, put it bluntly, according to a report in the San Diego Union Tribune. "We are putting this on the table for the budget negotiations. You are not going to see these necessarily as bills floating around in the Legislature somewhere -- only to have a 10-minute hearing and be dismissed."

So once again, the Republicans are dragging non-budget issues into the budget fight.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hanh Kim Quach
Health Care Policy Coordinator
Health Access California

I'm a good bargain shopper. (My prize: 10-piece set of top tier Calphalon pots once for $70) Here are my rules for assessing a good bargain:

1. Is it a known product (do I know it's a quality product -- like Calphalon);
2. If it's marked down, is it a good price compared to other similar products;
3. Lastly, will I use it (because it does me no good to get a good deal on shoes if I'm not going to wear them...and I've done this way too much).

This mental checklist is meant to ensure that the product is of value to me.

Which brings me to the letters submitted by the health insurance industry SB 1522 (Steinberg), which create standards for health insurance that would enable any person to go through such a checklist when buying insurance on their own. (See our Fact Sheet on SB 1522.)

In short, SB1522 would:

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Oversight by Schwarzenegger Administration of Timely Access, Language, So-Called Discount Health Plans, Retroactive Denials Of Coverage, and Mental Health to be Reviewed in 5 Hour Hearing

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Victoria Colliver at the San Francisco Chronicle has a preview of today's Senate Health Committee hearing--which is expected to be at least five hours of grilling on a range of meaty issues.

The Senate Health Committee, chaired by Senator Sheila Kuehl, will hold a hearing today on "Consumer Protection under the California Department of Managed Health Care: Adequacy of Implementation and Enforcement," reviewing the DMHC's oversight in five key areas: timely access, language access, so-called discount health plans, retroactive denials of coverage; and mental health.

In all these issues, they strike to the core of whether the coverage is meaningful, and whether the consumer is getting value for what they paid for. And on all these topics, there are pending decisions regarding regulations or implementation issues at the DMHC.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By David Dayen
d-day

It looks as if the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is planning on going to the ballot in 2010 with a proposal to basically do to the health insurance industry what Proposition 103 did to the auto insurance industry.

“We are going ahead with this,” said Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “The only thing that would block this is if the single-payer (universal health care) folks want to go ahead and go to the ballot, or if a new president wants to do something more ambitious. In that case, we would back off.” [...]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hannah Beth Jackson