Capitalist
Jeffersonian Liberal
- May 22, 2010
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(WaPo) Some of the countrys most prominent health insurance companies have decided to stop offering new child-only plans, rather than comply with rules in the new health-care law that will require such plans to start accepting children with preexisting medical conditions after Sept. 23.
The companies will continue to cover children who already have child-only policies. They will also accept children with preexisting conditions in new family policies.
Nonetheless, supporters of the new health-care law complain that the change amounts to an end run around one of the most prized consumer protections.
Were just days away from a new era when insurance companies must stop denying coverage to kids just because they are sick, and now some of the biggest changed their minds, Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, an advocacy group, said in a statement. [It] is immoral, and to blame their appalling behavior on the new law is patently dishonest.
Three insurers WellPoint, Cigna and CoventryOne all cited uncertainty in the health insurance market for their decisions. That incertitude and the resulting decision of other insurers to drop their child-only plans, according to WellPoint spokeswoman Kristin Binns, has created an unlevel competitive environment.
CoventryOne spokesman Matthew D. Eyles said that the insurer was facing unique challenges that could undermine our ability to offer value and meet our continued obligations to existing policyholders.
Read more >>>
The companies will continue to cover children who already have child-only policies. They will also accept children with preexisting conditions in new family policies.
Nonetheless, supporters of the new health-care law complain that the change amounts to an end run around one of the most prized consumer protections.
Were just days away from a new era when insurance companies must stop denying coverage to kids just because they are sick, and now some of the biggest changed their minds, Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, an advocacy group, said in a statement. [It] is immoral, and to blame their appalling behavior on the new law is patently dishonest.
Three insurers WellPoint, Cigna and CoventryOne all cited uncertainty in the health insurance market for their decisions. That incertitude and the resulting decision of other insurers to drop their child-only plans, according to WellPoint spokeswoman Kristin Binns, has created an unlevel competitive environment.
CoventryOne spokesman Matthew D. Eyles said that the insurer was facing unique challenges that could undermine our ability to offer value and meet our continued obligations to existing policyholders.
Read more >>>