Insurance denial arbitrary

[Luddly Neddite]

Insurance denial can seem arbitrary | Star Tribune

Fat? Taking antidepressants? Had a C-section? You may be uninsurable in the individual market.

Three years ago, Ivy Emery left her job at Aveda Corp. to work as an independent hair stylist at an Uptown salon.

No longer covered by Aveda's group health insurance, Emery applied for individual coverage for her husband and herself. Her husband, a self-employed construction worker and a smoker, was accepted. Emery, then 32, was rejected.

The denial letter from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota listed three reasons: She was using topical medication for acne, she had once sought emergency care for a migraine and she was on Paxil, a drug for anxiety and depression.

"It was just insane," she said, her voice rising at the memory. "They wrote 'acne.'"

An outraged Emery found herself a member of a club nobody wants to join: the Uninsurables.

It's a bigger club than you might think. Each year, one in six Minnesotan applicants for health insurance in the individual market is denied coverage because of a variety of pre-existing conditions.

Thank you, Mr. President.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

StarTribune.com | User comments

Read the comments section. One person calls it "anti-bankruptcy insurance. Another tells about a $90K hospital bill for pneumonia.