California Department Of Insurance

More than 120 investigators and prosecutors looking into workers' compensation fraud in Southern California served search warrants Wednesday at 31 sites, including the homes and offices of a string of doctors and lawyers suspected of paying illicit kickbacks. The investigation is one of several major workers' compensation fraud probes launched by authorities in the region since the beginning of last year.

Insurers have been skirting their obligation under recently enacted state law to provide costly behavioral therapies for autism, according to the Department of Insurance, which is proposing emergency regulations aimed at enforcing the law. In July, California joined more than two dozen other states in requiring private insurers to cover such treatments when medically necessary. But state officials said they have received dozens of formal complaints that insurers have been delaying and denying coverage by imposing limits on how much therapy a child can receive and who can provide it, and in some cases by requiring extensive cognitive testing before treatment can begin.

One of the state's largest bail-bond companies has been indicted on 42 felony charges as part of a major statewide investigation of alleged corruption in the industry, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Tuesday. The charges handed down in November by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury against San Jose-based Bad Boys Bail Bonds include perjury, forgery and offering false evidence.

Health insurance consumers concerned about rate increases can now keep track of them online by visiting the California Department of Insurance's website. The department has launched an electronic service to alert consumers when insurers file rates in the individual market, which serves people who do not receive health coverage through their employers. To sign up for the e-mails, go to http://www.insurance.ca.gov/email-updates . Click "Sign up for a free account" and select which updates to receive.

Woodland Hills-based Zenith National Insurance Corp. said Monday that it had received letters of inquiry from the California Department of Insurance requesting information about its arrangements and dealings with its agents and brokers. The state agency is among several regulators conducting wide-ranging probes into industry practices. Zenith said it was cooperating with the request, which it announced after the stock market closed. Zenith shares declined 4 cents to $49.

Executive Life Sale and Settlement Dates Set: The California Department of Insurance filed legal papers in Los Angeles to set the sale of Executive Life Insurance Co. of California into motion. The department previously announced a $3-billion deal to sell the Los Angeles-based company to a consortium led by a French insurer called MAAF. However, other companies were invited to top MAAF's offer. The papers say other bidders must submit their proposals before Oct 11, 1991.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Wednesday named as his top lawyer a partner from a high-powered international law firm that has long battled Proposition 103, the landmark insurance initiative passed by voters in 1988. Poizner appointed Adam Cole, a 46-year-old graduate of Harvard Law School, as general counsel, heading a Department of Insurance staff of 80 attorneys. Cole is a partner in a firm that has a long history of representing State Farm Casualty Insurance Co.

Health insurers have always known a lot about their customers, but the customers can't always say the same about their insurers. That's about to change. The California Department of Insurance today plans to announce a new "healthcare report card" program for six of the state's largest preferred provider organizations, or PPOs. The reports will include information on quality of care and patient satisfaction so that consumers can compare plans.

California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said Monday that he had ended a six-month search for a chief executive to run the state agency that oversees more than $1 billion in assets from failed insurance companies. Garamendi named David E. Wilson to run the Conservation and Liquidation Office, a semi-governmental organization that helps the insurance commissioner rehabilitate financially shaky insurers or sell off their assets to pay policyholder claims. Wilson, 57, of Golden, Colo.

French insurer MAAF defaulted in a civil lawsuit in which it was accused of defrauding the state of California of billions of dollars in the purchase of Executive Life Insurance Co., spokesmen for both sides said. Norman Williams, a spokesman for the California Department of Insurance, said the state planned to ask a jury to order MAAF to pay a share of $3.7 billion in damages claimed in the suit, which also targets the French government and French bank Credit Lyonnais.

One of the state's largest bail-bond companies has been indicted on 42 felony charges as part of a major statewide investigation of alleged corruption in the industry, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Tuesday. The charges handed down in November by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury against San Jose-based Bad Boys Bail Bonds include perjury, forgery and offering false evidence.

Woodland Hills-based Zenith National Insurance Corp. said Monday that it had received letters of inquiry from the California Department of Insurance requesting information about its arrangements and dealings with its agents and brokers. The state agency is among several regulators conducting wide-ranging probes into industry practices. Zenith said it was cooperating with the request, which it announced after the stock market closed. Zenith shares declined 4 cents to $49.

French insurer MAAF defaulted in a civil lawsuit in which it was accused of defrauding the state of California of billions of dollars in the purchase of Executive Life Insurance Co., spokesmen for both sides said. Norman Williams, a spokesman for the California Department of Insurance, said the state planned to ask a jury to order MAAF to pay a share of $3.7 billion in damages claimed in the suit, which also targets the French government and French bank Credit Lyonnais.

State insurance regulators took action against two California companies, saying the insurers failed to do enough to combat fraud. Sutter Preferred Health & Life Insurance Co. of Sacramento agreed to pay a $40,000 fine and participate in consumer education programs after the California Department of Insurance found the insurer had not maintained its special investigative unit, a fraud-fighting program required by 1994 state law.

A federal judge ruled that a former top California Insurance Department official cannot have the state pay for his attorneys' fees and personal compensation for time spent dealing with department matters after he resigned. William W. Palmer was a top aide to former state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. He filed a claim with the state seeking $168,000.

Labor unions plan to ask the Legislature to cap workers' compensation insurance rates next year if insurers fail to substantially cut the premiums they charge businesses. "Organized labor is going to be watching very closely the insurance company filings, and what they file will determine their fate in the Legislature," said Angie Wei, legislative director of the California Labor Federation, during a Department of Insurance rate hearing in San Francisco.