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Report | CALPIRG | Health Care

Review of Anthem's Rate Increase on Individual Policies

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has proposed a new health insurance premium increase to be effective March 1, 2013. The new increase will affect roughly 340,000 individual plan consumers, who will see rates increase 20% on average and as much as 24.9% at the maximum. CALPIRG has recommended that the California Department of Insurance request that Anthem amend the rate change or make an official determination that the proposed rate change is unreasonable.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund

Taxpayers Bear Cost of Corporate Settlements

Can you write of your parking tickets as a tax deduction? Of course not. So why should coporations be able to write off fines as a business expense. This release highlights our new report

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Budget

Subsidizing Bad Behavoir

Corporations accused of wrongdoing commonly settle legal disputes with government regulators out of court. Do- ing so allows both the company and the government to avoid going to trial and the agency gets to appear as if it is teaching the company a lesson for its misdeeds. How- ever, very often the corporations deduct the costs of the settlement on their taxes as an ordinary business expense, shifting a significant portion of the burden onto ordinary taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Consumers Push Back, Stand UP for Privacy | Jon Fox

2012 was a watershed year for consumers. Over the past year millions of Internet users took action to protect a safe and open Internet.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Citing Safety Concerns, Buckyballs maker to stop selling magnetic toys | Jon Fox

Maker magnetic Buckyballs announces that it will stop selling dangerous product.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Statement on the Recall of Bumbo Child Seats

Statement of U.S. Public Interest Group, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Kids In Danger, and Public Citizen on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Recall of Bumbo Seats.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Higher Ed

FDIC Orders Higher One to Repay Students $11 million in Campus Debit Card Settlement

FDIC announces an $11 million civil penalty of Higher One, the largest campus financial aid disbursement and debit card company, for alleged “unfair” and “unsafe” practices.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Food, Tax

Ag Subsidies Pay for 21 Twinkies per Taxpayer, But Only Half of an Apple Apiece

Tax subsidies for commodity crops are paying for junk food additives like high fructose corn syrup, enough to pay for 21 Twinkies per taxpayer every year.

Media Hit | Consumer Protection

Reuters: How you can benefit from the Capital One settlement

Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG consumer program director, comments on the first enforcement action by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which is about to hit its first anniversary.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Health Care

Hospitals in the Bay Area are Most Expensive in the State for Surgeries

A new report by CALPIRG Education Fund found large discrepancies between what California hospitals charge for common surgeries, which appear unrelated to quality of care.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace: Policy Briefing #6

Medicaid will see its eligibility significantly increased in 2014, the same year the state exchange will open its doors.

Report | CALPIRG | Budget, Tax

Tax Shell Game

The United States loses approximately $100 billion in tax revenues every year due to corporations and individuals sending their money to offshore tax havens.

Report | Consumer Protection, Financial Reform

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Safe Energy

Unacceptable Risk

American nuclear power plants are not immune to the types of natural disasters, mechanical failures, human errors, and losses of critical electric power supplies that have characterized major nuclear accidents such as the one at Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan.

Report | CALPIRG | Budget, Democracy, Tax

Following the Money 2011:

This report is U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s second annual ranking of states’ progress toward “Transparency 2.0” – a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility. The past year has seen continued progress, with new states providing online access to government spending information and several states pioneering new tools to further expand citizens’ access to spending information and engagement with government.

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Blog Post | Safe Energy

Earthquake Near Virginia Nuclear Reactors Is a Reminder of the Risks in California | Emily Rusch

Today’s earthquake in Virginia, less than ten miles from two nuclear reactors, is a jolting reminder of exactly the type of unpredictable risk that threaten the safety and security of nuclear power plants here in California and across the country.

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Apples To Twinkies

Find out how government subsidies disproportionately benefit junk food over fresh fruit and vegetables.

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Bigger Banks, Bigger Fees

Our survey found that more than half of banks are not entirely upfront about their fees. Some even broke the law.

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DANGEROUS TOYS ON STORE SHELVES?

Find out what to watch out for — from toxic chemicals to choking hazards — in our “Trouble In Toyland” report.

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