Insurance California

Declaring that a Los Angeles judge had improperly interfered with her attempts to administer Proposition 103, Insurance Commissioner Roxani Gillespie on Thursday asked the 2nd District Court of Appeal to block the judge's ruling. The commissioner asked that, pending a hearing in the matter, the appellate court stay a 40% rate increase that Superior Court Judge Miriam A. Vogel on Monday allowed Allstate to impose Jan. 2 on "bad drivers" among its assigned-risk customers.

Consumers receive their fair share of sucker punches from big corporations. But this one's a real beauty. And it affects all California seniors with Medicare Advantage plans offered by Anthem Blue Cross. Melvin Salse, 71, of North Hollywood received a letter from the insurance giant recently stating that "it has been our pleasure to provide you with Medicare Advantage coverage. " Salse, a retired TV producer, was assured that he's "a valued member" of the company and that "we look forward to providing you with outstanding service for years to come.

In a dreary courtroom in the hills overlooking San Francisco International Airport, a group of about 40 lawyers are collecting fees totaling more than $50,000 a day for work that may ultimately come to naught. Since Oct. 30, the lawyers have been meeting three days a week in hearings under the auspices of the state Insurance Department that mark yet another phase in the tortuous life of California's landmark auto insurance initiative.

Auto and homeowner insurance premiums have been regulated by the state of California for two decades. Maybe it's time that healthcare premiums are too. Insurance companies inadvertently have been making that case against themselves recently by announcing staggering double-digit rate increases, then backing off in the face of government scrutiny and public outrage. Aetna Inc. and Anthem Blue Cross scaled back planned premium hikes, and Blue Shield of California canceled one altogether after new state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones denounced the increases as excessive.

Consumers receive their fair share of sucker punches from big corporations. But this one's a real beauty. And it affects all California seniors with Medicare Advantage plans offered by Anthem Blue Cross. Melvin Salse, 71, of North Hollywood received a letter from the insurance giant recently stating that "it has been our pleasure to provide you with Medicare Advantage coverage. " Salse, a retired TV producer, was assured that he's "a valued member" of the company and that "we look forward to providing you with outstanding service for years to come.

For the sixth consecutive year, Kaiser Permanente ranked highest in customer satisfaction for health insurance among California policyholders, according to ratings firm J.D. Power and Associates. Anthem Blue Cross, the state's largest for-profit health insurer, and Woodland Hills insurer Health Net Inc. scored the lowest on customer satisfaction among seven California health plans. Kaiser, the nation's largest nonprofit health plan and hospital system, also led the way in customer satisfaction in Colorado, the Mid-Atlantic states and the South Atlantic area.

An alliance of insurance companies and environmentalists wants to bring a new kind of mileage-based auto insurance to California and charge motorists only for the number of miles actually driven. Called pay as you drive, the option is available from a few insurers in 34 states -- but not California -- as well as Canada, Japan and Europe. One company, GMAC Insurance Group, says its customers -- whose mileage is tracked by General Motors Corp.'s OnStar system -- have reduced the premiums they pay by 13% to 54%. And California drivers could expect to get similar savings if pay as you drive is approved here.

In light of recent concerns about rising insurance premiums and high court-awarded damages, I propose a solution: Let the court-awarded damages per defendant equal the sum of the top five salaries among company executives and insurance company attorneys for that particular case. Companies would thus be rewarded for equitable salary distribution among employees and for keeping legal costs down, and would determine their own level of liability. Of course, someone would also have to require that the companies pass those savings on to customers in their premiums, in accordance with industry claims that high damages awards are forcing the huge increase in premiums.

California's largest health insurers, fearing they'll lose new customers in the state's lucrative individual insurance market, have canceled controversial decisions last fall to stop selling policies for children. The insurance companies abruptly halted the sale of individual policies for kids in September rather than comply with provisions of the nation's new healthcare law that required them to accept all youngsters under age 19 regardless of their medical conditions. Insurers said at the time that the healthcare overhaul could saddle them with huge and unexpected costs, particularly if competitors exited the market.

As millions of Californians continue to cope with surging costs for health insurance, state lawmakers, consumer advocates and lobbyists in Sacramento are haggling over how tough to get with companies seeking large rate increases. August will be a key month as state officials try to forge a strategy to comply with the nation's new healthcare law. Among the law's far-flung provisions is a call for states to develop plans for reviewing "unreasonable" increases in health insurance premiums.

Nearly 300 insurance companies licensed to do business in California have refused to comply with a state regulator's request that they stop making new investments in corporations engaged in energy or defense-related work in Iran. The insurers, including more than a dozen major firms such as State Farm, Geico and Prudential, are questioning the authority of state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to impose sanctions. By contrast, Poizner said, 1,010 other insurance companies said they would comply.

For the second time in a year, the California insurance commissioner has rejected an industry rating agency's proposal that he recommend that insurers significantly raise rates paid by employers for workers' compensation insurance. Steve Poizner today rejected a call from the California Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to hike rates by 22.8% for policies that would be written or renewed after Jan. 1. By law, the insurance commissioner is charged with reviewing the benchmark rate considered by insurance companies in pricing future policies and recommending changes -- up or down.

Call it the California paradox: The most picturesque home sites are often the most perilous. Steep hillsides with sweeping views and tree-lined canyons may make the ideal house locale, but they also provide enough fuel-filled brush to torch a home within minutes during a wildfire. For the tens of thousands living in brush areas, the price of paradise comes with higher homeowner insurance premiums or substandard, piecemeal coverage.

In a move that may lead to higher homeowner insurance rates statewide, a major rating agency threatened Wednesday to downgrade State Farm's California operations because of serious losses in the insurer's residential business. Standard & Poor's placed State Farm General Insurance Co., a subsidiary of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., on a credit watch after losses eroded the insurer's reserves to $390 million from $566 million a year ago.

California officials are hoping their long-delayed plan to expand health insurance coverage to more than 300,000 low-income parents and children will become a reality under a new policy announced Saturday by President Bush to encourage state innovations in health care.

Nearly a tenth of California's hospitals say they will stop accepting Blue Cross health insurance within the next two weeks, a strong sign that the trouble in the state's health-care system has extended beyond health maintenance organizations. Barring a last-minute compromise, the Catholic Healthcare West chain and the independent St.