WellPoint, Blue Shield Of California To Cease Rescissions For Patients With Pre-Existing Conditions.
The Los Angeles Times (4/28, Girion) reports, “Stung by criticism and facing tougher federal regulation, two of the nation’s largest health insurers say they will stop the practice of dropping sick policyholders.” Last week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius criticized WellPoint, Inc. following a story which stated that the insurer cancelled the policies of customers who were diagnosed with breast cancer. The Times adds, “The moves Tuesday by WellPoint, Inc., the parent of Anthem Blue Cross of California, and Blue Shield of California, follow action by Congress and the Obama administration to crack down on the practice known as rescission.”
The AP (4/28, Murphy) also reports, “Health insurer WellPoint, Inc. said Tuesday it will start complying ahead of schedule with a health care reform provision that limits cases in which insurers can cancel coverage when a customer gets sick.” The company “said that starting May 1, it will follow a reform guideline that restricts cases of rescission only to instances where a patient committed fraud or intentional misrepresentation.”
Reuters (4/28, Heavey) says that WellPoint made the announcement after House Democrats urged the company and six other insurers to cease rescissions based on pre-existing conditions. The other insurance companies included UnitedHealth, Humana, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Assurant Health. Politico (4/28, Haberkorn) and CQ HealthBeat (4/28, Norman, Ethridge) also cover the story.