Category Archives: Government

Texas Won’t Fight Farmers Insurance as it Raises Homeowner Rates

Written On January 10, 2013 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a real shocker (NOT!): Our only Insurance Commissioner, Eleanor Kitzman, has once again agreed to accept a rate increase from a homeowner’s insurance provider. Texas is locked in a relentless battle to retain our position as the state with the highest homeowner rates in the country. We were uncontested for many years, but then [...]

Posted in Government, Insurance Information

Editorial: Insurance Regulator Should Be Protecting Consumers

Written On August 27, 2012 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written many times about our worse-than-worthless system of “regulating” insurance companies in Texas. My most recent complaint was just this month. Now the Dallas Morning News, in an editorial, is strongly protesting the actions of the new insurance commissioner, and suggesting she is protecting the carriers and hurting consumers (which of course she is). [...]

Posted in Government, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct

Dallas County Cracks Down On Jury Duty No-Shows

Written On May 29, 2012 By Bob Kraft

I’ve been practicing law in Dallas for more than 40 years now. And for every bit of that time Dallas County has had a problem with people who are called for jury duty not showing up to serve. One reason it’s been a problem for so long is that there has essentially been no enforcement [...]

Posted in Government, Political and/or Judicial

Texas Financial Responsibility Law: Minimum Auto Liability Insurance Limits Have Increased

Written On May 9, 2012 By Bob Kraft

After an intolerable number of years at the same very low minimum limits, Texas automobile liability laws were changed over the past several years. The minimum policy amount went from $20,000 to $25,000, and then to the current $30,000. This information is from the Texas Department of Insurance. Texas law requires people who drive in [...]

Posted in Government, Insurance Information, Vehicle Law or News

Editorial: Texas Should Raise Cap On Government Liability

Written On April 26, 2012 By Bob Kraft

One of the most frustrating situations for a personal injury attorney is to have a case in which the client has serious injuries, but the defendant does not have enough insurance or assets to pay enough to cover the client’s damages. One other way that situation arises is a case against a governmental entity, because [...]

Posted in Government

Texas Board Says It’s Falling Short in Regulating Bad Dentists

Written On April 19, 2012 By Bob Kraft

I like my dentist. And one of my best friends is a dentist. But this article in the Dallas Morning News makes me wonder about the degree of oversight exerted by the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating dentists. The bottom line, according to the article, is that oversight is poor at best. Here [...]

Posted in Government, Medical Malpractice

Medicare’s Billion-Dollar Headache, and a Possible Solution

Written On April 9, 2012 By Bob Kraft

It may be unlikely that any piece of legislation, no matter how popular, can pass both houses of Congress in an election year. But when the Chamber of Commerce and the trial lawyers associations both agree on a proposed law it’s hard to think of an excuse not to pass it. The law involved is [...]

Posted in Government, Medicare, Political and/or Judicial

Links to the Attorney General in Each State

Written On August 3, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Do you ever need to find information from another’s state’s Attorney General’s office? Here are links to each of them: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New [...]

Posted in Government

Featured Link – USA.gov

Written On May 17, 2011 By Bob Kraft

USA.gov is the main portal to all other U.S. government Web sites. It’s a great starting point for any federal information you need. Here is the description from the site: Whatever you want or need from the U.S. government, it’s here on USA.gov. Our Vision As the U.S. government’s official web portal, USA.gov makes it easy [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Government

Who Represents Me in Washington and in Austin?

Written On May 12, 2011 By Bob Kraft

We are in the midst of some very bad legislative proposals, both in Washington and in Austin. Whether you’re concerned about the loss of Medicare (Washington) or passage of a corporate immunity bill (Austin), you should contact your representatives and make your concerns known. There is a handy site for Texas who want to know [...]

Posted in Government, Medicaid, Medicare, Political and/or Judicial, Tort Reform

Featured Link — Bill of Rights

Written On May 5, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Years ago I posted a link to the Constitution of the United States. Recent political discussions have prompted me to post another link — this one to the Bill of Rights. If you haven’t read it recently perhaps you should.

Posted in Featured Link, Government, Political and/or Judicial

HHS Initiative Aims to Reduce Medical Errors and Cut Costs

Written On April 18, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Print media sources widely covered an announcement last week that the Obama Administration was partnering with hospitals, insurers and other groups in order to reduce medical errors. Most sources considered the move a positive for the Administration. The Los Angeles Times reports, “The Obama administration announced a broad new initiative Tuesday to reduce medical errors, [...]

Posted in Government, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Medical Malpractice, Medicare

FDA Scales Back Changes to Medical Device-Approval System

Written On January 25, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The AP reports, “The Food and Drug Administration is laying out plans to update the 35-year-old system used to approve most medical devices.” Notably, the “agency announced a series of changes it plans to make this year, including streamlining the review process for some low-risk devices,” although “regulators said they will delay a decision on [...]

Posted in Government, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Seriously? Wizard of Oz Glasses Are For Adults?

Written On December 13, 2010 By Bob Kraft

This is a decision I would have expected from the previous Administration, but not from the current one. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has reversed a decision it made last month. The original decision was for a recall of sets of Wizard of Oz drinking glasses because they contained up to 1000 times the federal [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Government, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Texas Legislature Must Cut Homeowners Insurance Costs

Written On November 30, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written about the ridiculously high cost of homeowners insurance in Texas many times, most recently this November 18. Now the Beaumont Enterprise has published an editorial on this subject, and I completely agree with the newspaper. Here are excerpts: When the Legislature convenes in January, it has to do more than agree with fed-up [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Government, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Insurance Information, Political and/or Judicial

Political Rhetoric Harms Perception and Future of Texas Medicaid Programs

Written On November 23, 2010 By Bob Kraft

A recent article about Medicaid in the Houston Chronicle repeated some of the political musings of Governor Rick Perry and other politicians. For anyone with even a basic knowledge of Medicaid, the suggestion that Texas could simply “opt-out” is ridiculous. Of course that doesn’t stop politicians from proposing it, and thereby frightening the poor, the [...]

Posted in Government, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Political and/or Judicial

Insurers Gave U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Breathtaking” Sum to Combat Obama Health Care Law

Written On November 20, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Bloomberg News reported that the national insurance member group America’s Health Insurance Plans, armed the US Chamber of Commerce with $86.2 million “that was used to oppose the health-care overhaul law.” Bloomberg notes, “The spending reflects the insurers’ attempts to influence the bill, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will provide coverage to 32 million [...]

Posted in Government, Health Insurance, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct

Texas Reclaims Top Spot in Nation for Highest Homeowners Insurance Rates

Written On November 18, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I knew they couldn’t keep us in second place for long. Now “insurance company friendly” Texas is number one in the nation again for highest homeowners insurance rates. Florida edged ahead of us for a brief time, but the almost total lack of regulation in Texas let us reclaim our rightful spot at the top [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Government, Insurance Information

No Social Security Cost-of-Living Increase for 2011

Written On November 17, 2010 By Bob Kraft

As I’ve written before, there will be no cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits in 2011. This is the second year in a row with no increase. Of course the reason is that inflation did not rise enough to trigger an automatic increase. The actual rule is a bit complicated: the COLA is determined by [...]

Posted in Government, Social Security, Social Security Disability

Senator Says Government Should Investigate High-Prescribing Doctors

Written On October 27, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Medicare fraud is a huge problem in the United States, as I’ve written about several times before. The good news is that Congress finally seems to be figuring this out — probably because of the federal budget situation. Whatever the reason, any exposure of this situation is good, and Iowa Senator Charles Grassley is calling [...]

Posted in Government, Medicare