Recent
News Release
6/26/2017
John M. Simpson
SANTA MONICA, CA -- Consumer Watchdog today called on Congress to ensure the adoption of federal safety standards to cover self-driving autonomous vehicles and warned that proposed House legislation that would pre-empt state safety regulations “would leave a regulatory void without meaningful safety protections.”
In a formal statement filed with the House Energy and Commerce...
Video
6/23/2017
Carmen Balber, Executive Director and Healthcare Advocate at Consumer Watchdog, tells Randy Page of CBS news that the Senate Health Bill being pushed by Senate Republicans is a bad deal for working families.
News Release
6/21/2017
Jonathan Phenix & Carmen Balber
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog has filed a petition challenging the insurance rates that two companies in the Travelers Group want to charge small businesses. The consumer group is seeking a 20% cut to the rates Travelers currently charges, which would deliver about $20 million in savings to policyholders.
Travelers’ rate proposal would affect nearly 16,000 businesses in the...
Blog Post
4/27/2017
By Connor Finney
Late Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Health Committee voted decisively to move S.B. 562 to the floor of the Senate. The Healthy California Act would establish a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system in the state, ensuring that all Californians have access to affordable healthcare. The bill was proposed by Senator Toni Atkins and Senator Ricardo Lara as well as aided by the support of the...
Blog Post
1/18/2017
By Carmen Balber
California consumers and small business owners saved $246 million dollars on their insurance in 2016 thanks to public rate challenges brought by Consumer Watchdog under insurance reform initiative Proposition 103.
Since 2002, Consumer Watchdog rate challenges have saved policyholders $3.2 billion on their auto, home, condo, earthquake, commercial and medical malpractice insurance rates...
Blog Post
1/9/2017
By Laura Antonini
Anthem Blue Cross delivered a blow to its California individual and family plan members at the start of the new year by stripping policies of out-of-network coverage. The worst part: most of these consumers don’t even know yet that they lost their out-of-network coverage for 2017.
As of January 1, Anthem converted its 2016 PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) health plans, which provide...
News Release
6/26/2017
John M. Simpson
SANTA MONICA, CA -- Consumer Watchdog today called on Congress to ensure the adoption of federal safety standards to cover self-driving autonomous vehicles and warned that proposed House legislation that would pre-empt state safety regulations “would leave a regulatory void without meaningful safety protections.”
In a formal statement filed with the House Energy and Commerce...
News Release
6/21/2017
Jonathan Phenix & Carmen Balber
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog has filed a petition challenging the insurance rates that two companies in the Travelers Group want to charge small businesses. The consumer group is seeking a 20% cut to the rates Travelers currently charges, which would deliver about $20 million in savings to policyholders.
Travelers’ rate proposal would affect nearly 16,000 businesses in the...
News Release
6/14/2017
John M. Simpson
WASHINGTON, DC -- Robot cars operating without mandatory safety, security, privacy and ethical standards will pose unprecedented risks to the American public, Consumer Watchdog warned today in a report, Self-Driving Vehicles: The Threat to Consumers.
The report is being issued in conjunction with a day-long program, Driverless Cars: The Legal Landscape, sponsored by George Washington University...
Legal Update
12/14/2015
By Harvey Rosenfield
In the latest of a series of decisions closing the courthouse doors on consumers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning, 6 to 3, that DIRECTV customers in California who were illegally charged “cancellation fees” of up to $480 – often taken directly out of a consumer’s bank account or charged to a credit card without the customer’s permission – cannot join...
Legal Update
10/6/2015
By Jamie Court
Our attorneys' report from the US Supreme Court is that this morning’s oral argument didn’t reveal which way the majority was leaning in Imburgia v. DIRECTV.
At issue is whether millions of consumers who paid exorbitant early termination fees can go to court in our class action, or are stuck in one-on-one mandatory arbitrations not contemplated by the contract that DIRECTV...
Legal Update
9/16/2015
By Harvey Rosenfield
Seven years ago, Consumer Watchdog’s legal team brought a class action lawsuit against DIRECTV on behalf of California customers who were charged unlawful early cancellation fees of up to $480 – often taken directly out of a consumer’s bank account or charged to a credit card without the customer’s permission. Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold a hearing on...
Video
6/23/2017
Carmen Balber, Executive Director and Healthcare Advocate at Consumer Watchdog, tells Randy Page of CBS news that the Senate Health Bill being pushed by Senate Republicans is a bad deal for working families.
Video
5/30/2017
The DMV is taking action and is now investigating Uber's self-driving truck program after Consumer Watchdog raised concerns that it is not in compliance with California law.
Video
5/18/2017
In a new report, Consumer Watchdog and its coalition partners uncover how Google helped fund the defense of websites accused of aiding child sex trafficking. Backpage.com, the website in question, has knowingly hosted ads for child prostitution.
Success Stories
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Consumer Watchdog's founder led the 1988 voter revolt against insurance companies that passed Proposition 103 and saved Californians...
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We drove Congress to place a ban on HMOs discharging newborns and their mothers from the hospital 8 hours after birth.
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We beat a deceptive campaign funded by one of America's wealthiest men, ending insurers’ redlining of poor neighborhoods.
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