Yes On 45 Supporters Deliver Steer Manure to Health Insurance CEOs at Nob Hill Gala to Return Some of the BS Companies Are Dishing Out to Voters on Prop 45, Says Consumer Watchdog

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog, the California Nurses Association and supporters of Yes on Proposition 45 delivered a truckload of steer manure to health insurance industry executives who gathered at the Fairmont Hotel yesterday to fete former Kaiser CEO George Halvorson.

"We're here to return to the health insurance CEOs who have been hiding behind the deceptive $57 million ad campaign against Prop 45 some of the BS they're inundating voters with in their mailboxes and on TV," said Jamie Court president of Consumer Watchdog and proponent of Proposition 45.

"It was the same railroad robber barons who built and made Nob Hill their home whose corrupt practices and hold over the statehouse were the reason California created the direct democracy of the ballot initiative process.  Proposition 45's rate regulation will be decided by the voters next week because the insurance robber barons who now hold sway in Sacramento blocked similar legislation for more than a decade," said Court.

The $750-per-plate gala is hosted by the Bay Area Council, an organization of corporate executives who pay thousands of dollars to belong to the business club that opposes Prop 45, and where Kaiser and Blue Shield CEOs sit on the board. Kaiser and Blue Shield have each given $18.7 million to oppose Prop 45.

Health insurance companies' are funding the deceptive advertising against Prop 45 in order to continue price-gouging consumers for their health insurance. Everyone in California has to buy health insurance under the law, but no one has the right to review and reject excessive rates, not even the state health benefit exchange Covered California, as industry-funded ads claim. 

Protestors have also dumped manure on the steps of Blue Shield's offices in San Diego and Los Angeles.

The No On Prop 45 campaign's advertising has been widely branded as deceptive. Pulitzer prize winning LA Times columnist Mike Hiltzik wrote about the No On Prop 45 campaign's deceptions in a Sunday column: "The 5 rules on how to kill a consumer-friendly initiative." Read the column here: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20141012-column-column.html#page=1

Prop 45 would require health insurance companies to justify rate hikes under penalty of perjury, and allow the public to challenge excessive rate increases. Prop 45 extends to health insurance California's successful regulation of auto, home and business insurance, which passed in 1988 and has saved drivers more than $100 billion in excessive auto insurance rates.

Proposition 45 is in the lead according to the latest poll by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. The survey of self-reported, registered voters who said they planned to vote in the Nov. 4 election, had Proposition 45 leading with 41.6% of those queried and opposed by 29.9%. Undecideds were 28.5%.

The poll was taken between Oct. 3 and Oct. 17 and had a margin of error of 3.65%.

Read more about the insurance companies' false advertising claims: http://www.yeson45.org/newsrelease/new-health-insurance-company-'no-prop-45'-tv-ads-make-false-claims-about-protecting-smal

For more visit 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.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog Campaign