medical insurance rate review ballot initiative: Consumer Watchdog

[Glia]

We recently had a great conference call with some of the more than 1500 supporters who signed up to help with the ballot initiative to rein in health insurance rates. I wanted to update you on our progress and let you know about the road ahead.

• By early January we will receive the proposed ballot initiative back from the Attorney General with a title summary so that it can circulate among voters for the 504,000 valid signatures we will need to place the initiative on the November 2012 ballot. We will need to collect about 800,000 signatures to meet that mark and submit them by May 1st.

• Pollster Lisa Grove updated our supporters on the polling about the ballot measure. She shared opinion research showing more than 8 of 10 Californians supported the central provisions of the initiative: requiring heath insurance companies to publicly justify their rate changes, under penalty of perjury, before rate hikes take effect. Support is strong across all demographic groups.

• Signature gathering will involve a direct mail effort, an online effort, volunteer signature gathering, and, if necessary, paid signatures. We will update you on the details closer to the time the petitions become available in January.

If you would like to volunteer for the ballot measure, please sign up here and we will keep you informed.