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Ask the Governor and Legislative Leadership to Stand Up to the Health Insurance Industry and Stop Abuses That Harm Californians
By Steve Blackledge
CALPIRG Legislative Director
There's little that we value more than our health. It's for this reason, and the fact that there are problems with the health care system, that health care ranks as a top priority for the American public.
CALPIRG is working for a high quality health care system that's affordable, efficient and accessible. And we're standing up to the powerful interests that influence our politicians on health care issues.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has dubbed 2007 the year of health reform, and legislators have followed by introducing numerous health care reforms. If it's truly going to be the year of health reform, then one of the key pieces must be fixing problems with the health insurance industry. Here are some of the problems:
• When people apply for individual health insurance plans, insurance companies cherry pick the healthy and refuse to insure others for an array of reasons, including their type of employment and past illnesses.
• Insurance companies have been caught dropping customers who become pregnant or sick.
• Health insurance rates are soaring, and they are far outpacing the cost of inflation. As a result, individuals and businesses alike are struggling to afford quality health plans.
• The industry and its rate setting practices lack oversight. In the rate setting process, auto and property insurance companies have to open their books to state regulators to justify increases. Voters put in place this oversight on the 1988 ballot, and it has worked. There's no such provision for health insurance.
Without doubt we need to improve heath care in California, and we need insurance companies to play by better rules. Each of these problems is fixable, and legislation exists to fix them. But the reforms face stiff opposition from the insurance industry and its lobbyists. That's why we need your support.
Please ask Governor Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Nunez, and Senate Pro Tem Perata to stand up to the insurance industry and stop abusive practices that harm consumers.
I want to thank the hundreds who sent an email last week in support of tough prescription drug safety measures in Congress. Now we're asking for your help in standing up to the health insurance industry.
To take action, click on this link.
Steve Blackledge, the legislative director, joined CALPIRG's staff in June 2002. Based in CALPIRG's Sacramento office, Steve has led the organization's work on consumer protection, health care, and corporate and accounting reform.
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