Congressional Committee to investigate health insurer cancellation practices

As reported by an article in Bloomberg, Congress is beginning to hold hearings regarding the practices of health insurers canceling policies for paying subscribers.  Although the health insurance industry denies it, the fact is that they practice extensive exclusionary policies both in the underwriting and renewal process.  These practices must be ended.  The private health insurance industry must realize, that if it is to survive, these policies must be terminated, sooner rather than later.   Discrimination against those unlucky enough to get ill or injured (I think that will be all of us!) should be abolished . . . jomaxx

A “U.S. congressional committee will investigate the health insurance industry’s practice of revoking benefits when policyholders develop costly illnesses.” The insurer practice of post-claims underwriting in individual policies “can leave families without coverage and facing substantial medical bills, witnesses told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee” on Thursday. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the committee’s chairman, said that “he plans to request documents from health insurers.” Rep. Waxman claimed that “[i]nsurers are using technicalities…to rescind policies after individuals get sick and accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills.” But, the insurance industry contends that the policy “revocations [are] necessary when they discover that members committed fraud, or misrepresented their health in applying for coverage.” And, according to Stephanie Kanwit, a representative for America’s Health Insurance Plans, “[o]nly 0.2 percent of the policies bought by individuals and families directly from health plans are canceled by insurers each year.”