Health Insurance Companies Now Spending $55 Million Vs. Prop 45, Says Consumer Watchdog Campaign

$12 Million Industry Addition Shows Companies Worry Public Will Find Out Its Role

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Oct 20, 2014, 02:17 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, the three big health insurance companies that control California's health insurance market gave another $12 million to their campaign to defeat Proposition 45, which will give California the authority to stop health insurance rate overcharges.

The total insurance industry spending against Consumer Watchdog's Prop 45 now tops $55 million, with just two weeks until Election Day. Total insurance industry spending against Prop 45 and 46 now exceeds $100 million.

"The big health insurance companies are panicked that the public will learn the truth about their opposition to Prop 45 and support its controls against rate hikes so they are doubling down on their deceptive television advertising campaign to confuse voters," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog and author of Prop 45. "The industry is worried that with enough light and air around the election the public will learn the truth that insurance companies are opposed to Prop 45 because it gives California the power 35 other states already have to reject excessive rates."

The deceptive insurance industry campaign against Prop 45 conceals the opposition of the big four insurance companies that control 84% of the individual and small business market that Prop 45 will regulate. The $12 million insurance companies added to their eleventh hour advertising will unleash a barrage of confusing advertising on the public, Consumer Watchdog said.

The Mercury News "Ad Watch" this weekend found the insurance companies' anti-Prop 45 advertising to be "mostly untrue": http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_26754321/new-anti-prop-45-tv-ad-misleads-viewers?source=rss#disqus_thread

This week the trade association for the big four health insurance companies is gathering at a beach side hotel in Huntington Beach at a convention attended by top officials from Covered California, the so-called "independent commission" the health insurance company advertising erroneously claims has the power to reject rates. Today the companies are hosting a golf tournament at the exclusive Sea Cliff Country Club for attendees.

"While the health insurance company executives celebrate their riches on the back nine of the Sea Cliff Country Club, average Californians who don't have the protection of rate regulation are having to choose between paying their mortgage and paying for health insurance," said Court. "Prop 45 is there to protect these policyholders who have been paying too much on their health insurance for too long because Californians don't have the same protections against rate hikes as 35 other states do."

For more on Prop 45 visit: http://www.yeson45.org

Paid for by Consumer Watchdog Campaign – Yes on 45, a coalition of consumer advocates, nurses, attorneys, and policyholders. 777 S. Figueroa St., Ste. 4050, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Major Funding by Consumer Watchdog Campaign and California Nurses Association.

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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog Campaign