What an inspiring 2012! Together, we exposed and stopped false MPG claims by automakers, shamed health insurance companies into lowering outrageous rate hikes and moved closer to the day when technology companies can’t collect and sell our private information online and on our phones without consent. This year we’ll continue these fights, and more.

Big things are going to happen in 2013, and we’re glad you’re here with us to see them through. We’ll be asking in the coming days your thoughts on what Consumer Watchdog’s priorities should be in 2013.

For now, here are some of our pledges for this year. We will:

• Turn up the heat on health insurance companies to stop unjustified rate hikes for families like Karyn Mor’s, who has seen her premiums jump over $800 a month in just two years. Californians will have a chance to vote at the next general election on the ballot initiative to require companies to publicly justify and get their rates approved.
• Win our three-year campaign to give consumers the right to say “Do Not Track Me” online. The more companies collect information about what we read, search for and buy online, the more they abuse that knowledge – as privacy project director John M. Simpson discusses in this news story about companies that change prices based on your browsing habits.
• Expose oil companies’ continued Enron-like manipulation of gas prices, which brought gasoline to $5.00 a gallon on the West Coast this summer. When gas prices spiked in May and August, oil refiners blamed reduced capacity because of outages and maintenance. But new evidence in November suggested that refineries were running as usual. Consumer Watchdog has called for a criminal investigation, joined by 7 US Senators, into whether oil companies faked the supply shortage.
• Protect patients from the kind of dangerous medicine practiced by doctors like Dr. Carlos Estiandan, who the LA Times exposed as a reckless over-prescriber of narcotics. Eight of Estiandan’s patients died of overdoses or related causes while the Medical Board of California dragged its feet on a 4-year investigation before finally pulling his prescription pad. It’s time the Medical Board got serious about disciplining bad doctors.
• Save California consumers hundreds of millions more on their auto and homeowners insurance premiums. Since 2002, our challenges to excessive rate hikes have saved policyholders over $2.2 billion.
• Prosecute our suits filed on behalf of drivers to hold car companies accountable for their fuel economy promises. Louis Bird bought a Hyundai Elantra that advertised 40 MPG, but the car never came close to that promise. A Consumer Watchdog complaint led to an EPA audit finding the company’s MPG claims were false, and to the first-ever multi-vehicle recall of MPG window stickers. The state and federal cases on behalf of owners of the Hyundai Elantra and three other models are heading to court.

What do you think of our resolutions? At Consumer Watchdog we know that when public opinion is on our side, we can make big things happen. So be on the lookout for our survey next week, and let us know your opinion on what our priorities should be in 2013.

Your ideas, actions and complaints were behind some of our biggest consumer protection victories. We need your input again to make this year as big as the last.

Happy New Year!

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Posted by Carmen Balber, Executive Director of Consumer Watchdog.

Anthem Blue Cross could owe big refund checks to 730,000 Californians if its proposed rate hikes of up to 25% are deemed excessive thanks to an initiative voters will consider on the 2014 ballot.

The ballot measure requires health insurance companies to get approval before raising rates and allows that refunds be ordered on rates that are considered excessive after November 6, 2012.  When voters approve the measure, the insurance commissioner will have the power to retroactively order refunds for excessive rates.

Read the initiative here

“Anthem and every health insurance company in California are on notice: Excessive rate hikes they impose today could mean big refund checks for consumers down the road,” said Carmen Balber with Consumer Watchdog.

Anthem has proposed rate hikes averaging 18%, and as high as 25%, for 630,000 individual policyholders.

It has proposed rate hikes averaging 15%, and as high as 25%, for another 100,000 individual policyholders.

The Insurance Rate Public Justification and Accountability Act qualified for the ballot in August, after Consumer Watchdog Campaign and allies submitted petitions containing 800,000 voter signatures.

“Californians can no longer afford the outrageous double-digit rate hikes health insurance companies like Anthem have imposed year after year, and sometimes multiple times a year, ” said Jamie Court, proponent of the ballot measure and president of Consumer Watchdog. “This initiative gives voters the chance to take control of health insurance prices by forcing health insurance companies to publicly open their books and justify rates, under penalty of perjury.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the first person to sign the ballot petition, is an honorary co-chair of the ballot initiative campaign, which is also supported by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

The ballot initiative builds on California’s successful model of rate regulation for auto, home and other property and business insurance. That law, Proposition 103, was enacted by the voters in 1988 and has saved California drivers $62 billion since it was enacted.

The Insurance Rate Public Justification and Accountability Act:

• Requires health insurance companies to publicly disclose and justify, under penalty of perjury, proposed rate changes before they take effect.
• Makes every document filed by an insurance company to justify a rate increase a public record.
• Requires public hearings on proposed rate increases.
• Gives Californians the right to challenge excessive and unfair premium rate increases.
• Prohibits health, auto and home insurers from considering Californians’ credit history or prior insurance coverage when setting premiums or deciding whether to offer coverage.
• Gives the elected insurance commissioner authority to reject unjustified rate increases.