Kaiser Sued Over Ad Campaign

A consumer advocacy group sued Kaiser Foundation Health Plan over a television advertising campaign in which the nonprofit health maintenance organization proclaims that its doctors, not its administrators, make all decisions on patient care, basing them on medical rather than financial concerns. In the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights charged that Kaiser’s advertised claims are fraudulent and seeks unspecified damages, removal of the advertisements and implementation of a corrective advertising campaign. The suit alleges that Kaiser’s business practices put profitability ahead of the medical judgment of its doctors. Oliver Goldsmith, a Kaiser physician who heads Kaiser’s Southern California medical group, sharply disputed the organization’s contentions. “To allege that 3,000 physicians are coerced and controlled is just wrong,” Goldsmith said.