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"It sounds great for Honda but bad for us if we're losing the hybrid part of our hybrids," he said.
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Not at all. More reluctant assist leads to better fuel economy. That guy who is getting 33mpg in a Civic hybrid is doing something wrong.
Also, while they've changed the throttle position at which assist kicks in, they haven't changed the total amount of assist available. If you want moderate acceleration, it's going to give you more gas engine and less electric motor than before. The car will sound and feel less powerful than before. But if you want full acceleration, that's still available, you just have to press harder on the throttle.
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Honda had swapped out more than 4% of the batteries in the 2006-08 Civic hybrids in California
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That does sound a little high for such new batteries. However, I'd wager they've swapped out much more than 50% of Insight batteries during the 10 year / 150kmi warranty on those.
Based on data from 2006, the cells for a 1KWh NiMH battery were going for $400-600 at the OEM level. People have a perception that these are $3000 packs (because the dealer charges that much to swap them), but having a NiMH battery that requires service is not that big of a deal.