Fighting junk insurance

More than 2 million Californians purchase their own medical coverage - a number that's growing as fewer employers offer group coverage. McClatchey News.

Thwarted in their efforts to overhaul the state's health-care system, consumer advocates are now concentrating their efforts instead on tightening regulation of that market.

Unlike the heavily regulated group insurance market, advocates say the individual insurance market is rife with "junk insurance" policies that provide minimum benefits, such as hospital-only coverage, and don't set limits on out-of-pocket expenses.