|
Butte County Health Care Coalition P.O Box 3673,Chico,CA 95927 Dedicated to equitable and affordable health care for all! |
|
Cancelled Patients Win Reinstatement of Coverage |
|
Health insurance companies in California have been cancelling the policies of thousands of people who got sick and needed the coverage their policies supposedly offered. These people will now have a chance to get back their coverage and have their medical bills paid, including past bills. Because of action taken by the Schwarzenegger administration, health insurers learned that they could be punished for using minor errors on an enrollment application to cancel patients who fall ill and make a claim. The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) reinstated coverage for more than two dozen patients, while opening the door to thousands more. In addition, the Department said that all recessions for the last four years would be submitted to an independent arbiter for reconsideration. If the arbiter determines the cancellation to have been wrongfully done, the policy would be reinstated and the insurer would have to pay any medical bills that were presented during the period coverage was cancelled. There are five major insurers involved: Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield, PacifiCare and Health Net, Two of these health plans, Kaiser and HealthNet, have already agreed to reinstate coverage to nearly 1,200 patients whose policies were dropped after they incurred high medical expenses. Under the deal, patients whose insurance was rescinded by Kaiser Permanente or Health Net since 2004 will be allowed to purchase new insurance regardless of preexisting medical conditions.
The state is still trying to reach similar deals with Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and PacifiCare involving about 4,000 rescissions. |