Category Archives: Insurance Company or Government Misconduct

UnitedHealth To Pay $400 Million To Settle Manipulation Allegations

Written On January 16, 2009 By Bob Kraft

Bloomberg News
(1/15, Goldstein, Freifeld) reported, "UnitedHealth Group Inc., the
biggest U.S. health insurer, said it will spend $400 million to settle
allegations it has manipulated payments to doctors and patients for the
last 15 years." UnitedHealth "agreed to put $350 million into a
class-action restitution fund to pay physicians and policyholders for
services provided by out-of-network providers, the company said [...]

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

Editorial: Texans Deserve To Know Hospital Mistakes

Written On January 14, 2009 By Bob Kraft

This Dallas Morning News editorial is in follow-up to the excellent series the paper has run (and that I have written about) over the past few weeks.
In 2007, state Sen. Jane
Nelson did yeoman's work in passing legislation that requires Texas
hospitals to report the types of infections they see in their daily
work.
But as [...]

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

Texas – State Of Neglect, Part 2

Written On January 11, 2009 By Bob Kraft

I wrote recently about a continuing series in the Dallas Morning News, and how it reflected my loss of pride in my native state. The second of a four-part series is in the paper today, and continues to discuss in blunt terms the failing of Texas government to protect the weak, the needy, and the [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Disability, Government, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Medicaid

Texas – A State Of Neglect

Written On January 6, 2009 By Bob Kraft

I was born and raised in the Great State of Texas, and have never been outside its borders for more than about a week at a time. I've been enormously proud to be a Texan, but not so much in recent years as in the past. For the last dozen years or so Texas has [...]

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

Midnight Regulations May Continue Bush Legacy

Written On December 11, 2008 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written on this topic, but this viewpoint is from Rolling Stone magazine, courtesy of the American Association for Justice news release:
Rolling Stone (12/25, Dickinson) magazine reports, "With president-elect Barack Obama already taking command of the financial crisis, it’s tempting to think that regime change in America is a done deal. But if George Bush [...]

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

Advocates Debate Ways To Close Some Texas Schools For The Disabled

Written On December 9, 2008 By Bob Kraft

I wrote a few days ago about the U.S. Justice Department report blasting the deplorable conditions in Texas schools for the disabled. Now the Dallas Morning News has a front-page article discussing the possibility of improving state schools by closing some schools and concentrating resources in the remainder. Here are excerpts from the article:

For the [...]

Posted in Disability, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Political and/or Judicial, Social Security Disability

Justice Department Blasts Texas State Schools For The Disabled

Written On December 6, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The politicians in charge of Texas government for the past decade or so have effectively starved the beast to the point there’s no money available for many essential services. One of the services many of us consider essential is proper care for disabled Texas residents. A recent article in the Dallas Morning News detailed the [...]

Posted in Disability, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Social Security Disability

Bush Administration’s Rule Forces Truckers to Drive to Point of Exhaustion, Puts Motorists at Risk

Written On December 1, 2008 By Bob Kraft

That’s the headline of a recent statement by Joan Claybrook,
President of Public Citizen. Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit
consumer advocacy
organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in
Congress, the executive branch and the courts. Here is the full
statement:

At this point, in the 11th hour of the Bush
administration, we weren’t holding out much hope that the [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Vehicle Law or News

Featured Link – Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse

Written On November 18, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The American Association for Justice has published an interesting and helpful article titled Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse. The topics include:
Denying Claims Delaying Until Death Confusing Consumers Discriminating by Credit Score Abandoning the Sick Canceling for a Call

Here is the summary — What you can do about [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Insurance Information

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Created Current Financial Crises?

Written On October 9, 2008 By Bob Kraft

This thought-provoking press release is from the American Association for Justice:
U.S. CHAMBER CREATED CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS, NEW REPORT SAYS
Filings show AIG paid U.S. Chamber $23M to eliminate oversight and accountability
WASHINGTON, DC—The
current financial crisis was caused by U.S. Chamber’s aggressive
lobbying to eliminate accountability and oversight, says a new issue
brief that also exposes payments from bailed-out AIG [...]

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

Doctors-Insurers Confrontation Heats Up

Written On July 14, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The Dallas Morning News ran a long but interesting story about the increasing frictions between doctors and health insurance companies regarding reimbursement for medical bills. The gist of the story is that insurance companies are denying so many claims that doctors’ incomes are dropping even though the doctors are seeing more patients.
This reminds me of [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Allstate Gets Away With Overcharging Texas Homeowners

Written On May 15, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The Dallas Morning News reports that Allstate Insurance Company has reached a settlement agreement with the Texas Department of Insurance that will allow Allstate to keep more than $19,000,000 in premiums it allegedly overcharged Texas consumers. The settlement agreement does require Allstate to repay more than $51,000,000 in overcharges. Here are excerpts:

Allstate Insurance agreed Monday [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Insurance Information

Justice For Sale In Texas?

Written On May 13, 2008 By Bob Kraft

That’s the shocking headline of a story by Houston’s KHOU TV station. The story concerns political contributions to the justices on the Texas Supreme Court, and how those contributions might give the appearance of influencing judicial decisions. Watch the video.

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Political and/or Judicial, Tort Reform

Studies On Chemical In Plastics Questioned – FDA

Written On April 27, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The Washington Post has an article today that illustrates the fallacy in the current trend of the Bush administration and the U.S. Supreme Court to push the doctrine of "preemption." This is the legal theory that basically states if a federal agency approves a product, then consumers are forbidden to file any claims for damages [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Tort Reform

Allstate Insurance Releases Documents As Ordered By Florida Court

Written On April 14, 2008 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written several times now about Allstate Insurance being banned from writing new policies in Florida until they released certain court-ordered documents. Allstate has now released those documents online.
This is going to be deathly dull to almost everyone except a few interested parties, but I’m sure there will be some juicy little nuggets that will [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct

Allstate Is Again Banned From Writing Policies In Florida

Written On April 9, 2008 By Bob Kraft

In the continuing saga of Allstate Insurance and the State of Florida, the latest news is that Florida’s First District Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court
ruling, and has reinstated the prohibition on Allstate writing new insurance
policies.
The original controversy surrounded Allstate’s
refusal to comply with subpoenas regarding its property insurance
policies in Florida. The ban applies [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct

Frivolous Disability Claims Are Overloading The Social Security Disability System

Written On April 3, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Lawyer who represent Social Security disability claimants have always known that the disability system is clogged up with frivolous claims. People, for one reason or another, who file a Social Security disability claim when they know they don’t qualify. Some people file claims even though they’re able to work full-time, and other people file claims [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Insurance Information, Social Security Disability

Consumers Beware – Pre-emption By Preamble Steals Your Legal Rights

Written On March 31, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Recent actions by federal regulatory agencies, combined with a U.S. Supreme Court decision are extremely troubling to consumer advocates. The gist of the problem is that federal agencies under the Bush administration are taking the stance that their rules trump state court verdicts.For example, if a federal agency said a prescription drug was safe, then [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Tort Reform

Health Insurance Companies Cut Back On Medical Tests – Does This Help Or Hurt Patients?

Written On March 24, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The Associated Press is running a story today in papers across the country, documenting cutbacks health insurance companies are making in the number of medical tests they approve. Actually, the carriers are requiring pre-approval for more and more tests, which has the effect of cutting back on the total number. The insurance companies say this [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Medical Malpractice

Allstate Temporarily Banned From Florida

Written On January 21, 2008 By Bob Kraft

As reported in the Florida Sun-Sentinel, the State of Florida temporarily banned Allstate insurance Company from doing business in Florida because of Allstate’s failure to turn over certain documents in an investigation into Allstate’s pricing practices. The ban was enacted by the State Department of Insurance, but lifted later by a District Court. The decision [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct