California Fixes Good Samaritan Law

California Legislators finally correct the wrongdoing of the State Supreme Court!

On August 6, 2009 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 83 (Feuer/Benoit), legislation which encourages individuals to act as "Good Samaritans" and voluntarily help rescue others in peril. The legislation goes into effect immediately.

“Now Good Samaritans have no reason to hesitate to responsibly help someone in an emergency out of fear that they might be sued, " Assembly Member Mike Feuer said. "This legislation encourages Californians to look out for each other at a time when public resources are all too scarce. I'm proud of the broad coalition that came together to make this common sense law possible." The bill garnered unanimous bi-partisan support in its passage through the Legislature, and it created a broad and unusual alliance of support from law enforcement and rescue agencies, as well as the plaintiffs and defense bars and the American Heart Association.

“As a former Highway Patrol Commander, I’ve experienced many situations where Good Samaritans arrived first on the scene, making the difference between life and death for accident victims,” commented Senator John J. Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes), a 31-year law enforcement veteran and principal co-author of AB 83. “Good Samaritans show kindness to others and their good acts should be encouraged, rather than discouraged.”

AB 83 reverses a recent court decision and clarifies the Legislature's intent to shield all Good Samaritans from lawsuits if they act responsibility – regardless of whether their rescue assistance is of a medical or non-medical nature. In the court case of Van Horn v. Watson, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state’s Good Samaritan statute only partially protected those who voluntarily act as Good Samaritans from possible negligence lawsuits. The Supreme Court held that such volunteer rescuers would only be shielded from lawsuits if they provided “medical care” at the scene of an emergency; they would not be protected from possible liability if they provided "non-medical care."

Another supporter of the legislation, Christine D. Spagnoli, president of Consumer Attorneys of California, stated: “This bill strikes an important balance between the human desire to help people who are in distress, and the rights of victims. Consumer attorneys are delighted to join police, firefighters, paramedics and insurance and business groups in endorsing this measure.”

“Assemblyman Feuer and his co-authors deserve a big thanks for acting quickly and fixing a quirky law that threatened to penalize people who performed noble acts in helping others in an emergency," said John H. Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC).

Assembly Member Feuer was moved to introduce AB 83 by personal experience. While driving home from work on a Los Angeles freeway we witnessed the driver of a pickup truck swerve and lose control, overturning in traffic. Feuer helped pull the driver and his family from the overturned vehicle while others blocked traffic on the busy freeway.

Catching the Seniors Off Guard!

Today I received a solicitation from AARP's United Healthcare Insurance Company for the AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance.

I thoroughly read through each and every page of the material I received, and not once did it mention what coverage I would receive! It did suggest they have a variety of plans giving me a choice of options. Yet not once did they tell me what each of those plans did, or did not cover. It did however tell me about there being a pre-existing condition exclusion and enough gobbledy-gook about that perhaps not applying, that it would take a Miami lawyer to tell you whether you were or were not qualified under pre-existing health care coverages or not. They use the term "other exclusions may apply" but don't tell you what those exclusions might be.

The insert sheet shows plans A through L yet doesn't fully explain what you do or do not get under each plan. The heading states "See Outlines of Coverage Section for details about ALL Plans". That would be nice except there was NO Outlines of coverage section included. I did receive a rate sheet however that would allow me to choose a rate starting from $$75.60 all the way to $145.60 for "Early Enrollment Discount rates" and from $108 to $208 in the future. A supplemental piece of paper included in the package states that the plan rates shown in this package are only good for 2009. Yet the solicitation and application are for coverage effective 1/1/2010! Thus if your Medicare rates increase, so will this. And then you have no idea what you will be paying!

Finally, reading the printed page, the kicker is this statement:" This material describes the plans available through the AARP Health Care Options program but is not considered a health insurance contract or insurance certificate.

Folks, you aren't getting health insurance or health coverage, but a plan of some sort that seems very undefined. After reading it again, I can't determine what I would be paying for. And, I have experience in the insurance and healthcare field, unlike most others who have to wade through the Medicare minefield all alone and uneducated about the pitfalls.

The cover letter says call them and I, frankly, won't do that. I have had dealings with AARP in the past and they seem to have the phones handled by sharks who simply want to sell you something. I once called about auto insurance and the woman hounded me on the phone to sign up, although the coverage she was hawking was hundreds more than the AAA coverage I already had, and the AARP program even had worse coverage to boot! Then I was subject to a barrage of unwanted mail and phone solicitations for months trying to sell me more insurance. Still receive tons of junk about some form of insurance from these people just about every week.

If you can't get a clear answer to what you're buying, don't buy it. Paying for something when you don't know what you're getting is what I call paying for "air biscuits." Sounds good but no substance.

Finally, on Page 31 of the December 2009 AARP Bulletin, they have a Scam Alert on buying worthless or less than value insurance policies. Maybe they should have named themselves in that article as Consumer Reports and others have in the past!

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/scamalert/articles/when_health_insurance_is_phony_.html

AARP Backs Obamacare and Medicare Cuts!

Today, December 2, AARP supported $460 billion dollars in Medicare cuts to fund the Obamacare health care reform bill. As Republicans tried to have the cuts restored, the AARP stated the cuts by the Democrats were just ways of eliminating waste and inefficiency within the Medicare system.

This bill will increase seniors' Medicare premiums by over $60 Billion Dollars!

What they will do is destroy the Medicare Advantage program that provides additional services and coverages to Medicare recipients who sign up for the plans. And those plans offer the extra services at no extra cost to the senior citizen in most cases. Better coverage, less cost when you are ill and can least afford it, and no more money out of your pocket at the beginning. No wonder AARP opposes that. If you can get that. why would you want the often costly and sometimes questionable coverage of AARP "supplemental insurance" programs and "prescription drug" programs that can be covered by Medicare Advantage programs with the premiums you already pay as part of your Medicare monthly costs?

Screwed by the association that seniors trust, the AARP is like a dog that bites the hand that feeds it. How seniors can trust these people is beyond me. It nauseates me to think how they deceive their members and then push for a bill that will help fill their coffers. YES, fill the AARP coffers since they offer supplemental insurance plans! And how many recognize that the AARP makes more money on revenues from hawking insurance and other products than from membership, grants and contributions?

When your Medicare benefits are cut and you need extra coverage, the AARP is going to be hawking that coverage, just as they do now. Read my past posts on their coverages, and what Consumer Reports says about some of those coverages.

Even back in 1988, Money magazine laid open the devious practices of the AARP, which was originally funded by an insurance broker named Leonard Davis, who later founded Colonial Penn Insurance, which later replaced Continental Insurance as AARP's insurer! Even Consumers Union (Consumer Reports) found fault with them back then! Read the entire story here:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1988/10/01/84702/index.htm

Think the executives who are not volunteers at AARP will be hurting on Medicare? Not a chance. According to the New York Times Business Section, December 3, 2009, "Horace B. Deets, Executive Director of the AARP earned $369,000 plus $141,806 in retirement benefits."

Barry Rand, the new CEO of AARP has an annual salary of $575,000 according to his bio published in USA Today on March 12, 2009. You can bet he won't be worrying about Medicare!

At the risk of being "politically incorrect, here's a link to what Capitol Hill is saying about the AARP back door dealings with the Democraps:

http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/09/10/20/democrats-cut-back-room-deals

Shame on AARP and their underhanded plan for screwing America's seniors!