Some insurers stop writing new coverage for kids

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

Ahead of requirement to cover kids with medical problems, some insurers drop out

Friday July 23, 2010, 4:04 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some major health insurance companies have stopped issuing certain types of policies for children, an unintended consequence of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, state officials said Friday.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in his state UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said a couple of local insurers in her state have done likewise.

The administration reacted sharply to the insurance pullback. "We're disappointed that a small number of insurance companies are taking this unwarranted and unnecessary step," said Jessica Santillo, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services department.

Starting later this year, the health care overhaul law requires insurers to accept children regardless of medical problems -- a major early benefit of the complex legislation. Insurers are worried that parents will wait until kids get sick to sign them up, saddling the companies with unpredictable costs.

The major types of coverage for children -- employer plans and government programs -- are not be affected by the disruption. But a subset of policies -- those that cover children as individuals -- may run into problems. Even so, insurers are not canceling children's coverage already issued, but refusing to write new policies.


Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Some-insurers-stop-writing-apf-1129458619.html?x=0&.v=1

[Oregone]

1. Bullshit article

Ive read capitalism is altruistic once you crack the code and figure out how to regulate it to be so. Hence, this couldn't possibly be true.



Or the code hasn't been cracked.

[Beavker]

2. Two Words

Single Payer. Then they no longer need to issue ANY policies. They can apply for the Government positions that will open up to administer it.

[xchrom]

3. After a few kids get really sick and some die

They'll fix it.

[Bette Noir]

4. What makes you think insurance companies care whether kids die?

Oh-- I'm the one who was told by an insurance company rep, "He'd better be dead by Monday," about a teenaged AIDS patient who had been sent home to die at his mother's house. The insurance company was tired of paying for a home health nurse to check on him, and an aid to assist his mom in his personal care, whence the ultimatum.

A career in nursing has given me a very strong opinion about health insurance companies.

[burnsei sensei]

7. and people like this are allowed to walk around

free.
We criminalize the extremities the poor are driven into, and yet we turn a blind eye to this kind of depraved indifference.
And it is depraved.

[Donnachaidh]

10. no they won't. States will wind up taking up the slack

We went through the process of trying to get just my son covered for his mild version of a blood disorder. One agent actually LAUGHED when I asked about coverage. And then basically said we were SOL. Nice, huh?

We did get coverage, but through the State, in the PeachCare program in Georgia. We would not have been able to get it if our income was much higher. So the real working middle class is screwed.

[harun]

5. United Healthcare is a worse company than BP.

[OhioChick]

6. You're right....

I think UH is the worst I've had so far.

[harun]

13. Yep I learnt the hard way as well. Fine the first year then the next year

they changed the whole plan to shit. Very happy I have a decent non-profit HMO plan I can pick instead of them. They are just looters.

[OhioChick]

14. They denied every fucking claim they ever got from me.....

UH uses what they call "The ACN Group." I received letters from them all of time denying treatments. They're supposed to help you make the most of your healthcare. Yeah, right. :eyes:

http://www.acngroup.com/about.html

[harun]

17. Yah they won't pay. Always tried to say someone else should pay, like my employer

etc.

I called them and asked WTF I was paying for? Because the way I saw it I was basically funding a bunch of people to harass me. They have quite the business model.

[izquierdista]

8. Keep going

Why write any policies at all? I view this as a first step to the day when United Healthcare and BCBS won't be writing any policies because they are no longer in business.

[Iowa]

9. These bastards will just keep exploiting vulnerabilities in the law...

This is what you get when you make deals with the devil.

[bergie321]

11. Public Option

NOW.

[KG]

12. the 'uniquely american' solution.

:eyes:

[dflprincess]

15. Gee - who would have thought the insurance companies couldn't be trusted?

:sarcasm:

This "reform" just gets better everyday.

[area51]

16. Exactly.

Everyone could see this coming, as the insurance companies were allowed to write the legislation that was passed.

Putting the insurance cos. in charge of our health care access is criminal.

[panzerfaust]

20. Which is why we needed the 'Public Option' - however the companies do have a point

As they are, apparently (I have not actually read the bill), going to be prohibited from denying coverage to a child, and as applying for coverage is optional, then they may well be correct that some people will not apply for coverage for their child until he or she falls ill - sort of like not buying a fire policy until your house is on fire: something that clearly will increase the costs to the insurance company.

The best solution is 'universal' health care. Something which I believe the current administration promised and then turned into simply a bonus to the health insurance industry.

[Zhade]

18. Gosh, who could have seen this coming as a result of the flawed HIR bill?

Oh, wait...

[riderinthestorm]

19. "Unintended consequences" my ass. Ins cos wrote the damn thing, they knew ALL the loopholes.

We are in for a slew of ugly surprises as the loopholes begin to emerge and insurers begin to wiggle through them to continue their shameful denial of coverage.

I ran into one just this spring when I tried to form a group insurance plan. I was assured 2 years ago by BCBS when I first inquired about setting up a group plan that this would be no problem with my small group (10 employees). But after HCR, they know that in 2014 everyone's going to be mandated to purchase a policy at the rate they set. There's no incentive to create new group plans anymore where there are "bulk" discounts. So my group policy application was denied in May since they aren't writing policies anymore for firms of less than 200 people. Why should they? We're too small to count, and it's more profitable to insure large groups where the risk is most spread out.

[Odin2005]

21. The Insurance Industry is the biggest racket in history.

[Hansel]

22. Yes, because had it not been for HCR the insurance companies would

be like health fairies pouring pixie dust over all of our children to keep them healthy and safe. It's big bad Obama who forced their hand.

Anyone who buys that they did this just because of HCR has not been paying attention.

[totodeinhere]

23. It's just another example of Obama's "wonderful" so-called health care reform.

Some DU posters were apoplectic over how great this was supposed to be. But if they could pull their heads out of Obama's ass for a minute they could see that is a sell out to the big insurance companies. Nothing has changed. This article is a good example of that.