June 17, 2009

Pre-existing condition? Get Outta Here!

Yep, health care insurance companies have our best interests at heart. A definition: rescission -- The act of annulling, abrogating or revoking an agreeement.

The LA Times reports:

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses.

[snip]

Late in the hearing, Stupak, the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show "intentional fraud."

The answer from all three executives:

"No."

That, ladies and germs, is why we need a single-payer health care plan.

Via Kevin Drum

Posted by Linkmeister at June 17, 2009 02:22 PM | TrackBack
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