Texas Watch—Consumer Protection. Corporate Accountability. Citizen Advocacy.

The conservative-libertarian Cato Institute released a white paper this week that concludes that caps on medical malpractice damages are bad for patients because they remove incentives for medical liability insurers and physicians to reduce risk associated with the practice of medicine. You read that right. The Cato Institute believes med mal caps are bad. Read More »

The scores are out! After a busy legislative session, filled with many consumer-related bills, we’ve compiled a scorecard showing how each legislator fared.

We tracked the votes closely so that you could see who stood up for families and who chose to stand on the side of corporate lobbyists. Read More »

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst issued a series of interim charges directing the Texas Senate to review various issues stemming from the ongoing drought and threat of wildfires.  The charges cover a myriad of important issues; however, the charges make no mention of the insurance industry or the impact the wildfires could have on policyholders.

In a letter to Dewhurst, Texas Watch urged Dewhurst to add a charge to explore the impact the wildfires are having on insurance policyholders. Read More »

Over the last decade, Texas politicians and lobbyists have enacted a series of devastating legal changes that severely restrict the legal rights of individuals, families, and small businessowners. These changes have made Texas a more dangerous place in which the value of accountability has been discarded.

Here are our picks for the Terrible Texas 5, a sampling of the worst of the corporate immunity agenda in our state. Read More »

The Texas Department of Insurance has requested input on how to implement portions of the windstorm insurance bill passed by lawmakers earlier this year.  This legislation is dangerously misguided, severely restricts the rights of coastal policyholders, and creates an overly complicated claims process.

Given this flawed framework, Texas Watch submitted the following comments focused on key public policy areas like ensuring better transparency and removing bias from the dispute resolution process. Read More »

Despite a professed desire to adhere to fundamental constitutional principles, Governor Rick Perry’s tenure has been marked by radical changes that arbitrarily and dangerously restrict the legal and constitutional rights of Texans of all walks of life, including patients, families, workers, homeowners, senior citizens, policyholders, and small business owners.  This report discusses the most notable of these statutory changes and details their devastating human cost, namely, how they have closed the courthouse door on many Texas families. Read More »

Wildfires have swept across our state, destroying homes and upending thousands of lives. Here are some tips for families and policyholders when dealing with their insurance company. Read More »

In a major opinion today, the Texas Supreme Court overturned more than 20 years of established law to protect workers’ comp insurance providers from claims by injured workers.  In the opinion, Texas Mutual Insurance Co. v. Timothy J. Ruttiger, the Court ruled that injured workers who have been subjected to bad faith claims handling by their workers’ comp insurance provider are not protected by the Texas Insurance Code’s provisions against “unfair settlement practices.” Read More »

Patients in Illinois got good news this week when the courts re-instated a popular law that gives them access to safety information about their physicians.  Texas Watch called on Texas lawmakers to follow the lead of Illinois and 6 other states by adopting a meaningful “Patient Right to Know Act.”

“Recent revelations about how the Texas Medical Board fails to thoroughly review physician safety records, leaving the public in the dark about the safety records of physicians practicing in Texas spotlights the need for an Illinois-style disclosure law for patients,” said Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch. Read More »

What does it mean to be a middle class wage-earner and consumer in Texas?

For too many families, it means a struggle to make ends meet.  Texans want safe, stable jobs with decent wages and reasonable benefits that allow them to raise a family, own a home, and save for a comfortable retirement.  Much has been made lately about job growth in Texas.  Unfortunately, for middle class Texans, the so-called “Texas Miracle” has been more myth than reality.  So, how does Texas stack up to the rest of the nation on key quality of life indicators? Read More »