Isn’t it already illegal to drop coverage?
March 22nd, 2010 | by Brian Schwartz |I just sent the following e-mail to Janet Adamy, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal:
Dear Ms. Adamy,
You’ve mentioned that under Senate BIll 3590 would “Insurance companies would no longer be able to cancel enrollees’ policies because they got sick.” Yet, I have read that this has been illegal since 1997. John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute writes:
Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations (45 CFR § 148.122) is about “guaranteed renewability of individual health insurance coverage.” Paragraphs (a) and (b) read as follows:(a) Applicability. This section applies to all health insurance coverage in the individual market.
(b) General rules. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, an issuer must renew or continue in force the coverage at the option of the individual.Paragraph (c) releases the health insurer from the obligation to renew coverage if you haven’t paid your premiums, if you’ve committed a fraudulent act under the terms of the coverage, if you move out of the insurer’s coverage area, or if you quit an association through which you’ve purchased insurance.
Am I missing a distinction here?
Thank you,
Brian Schwartz
Note: I tagged this post with “media bias,” though if Adamy’s statement is mistaken, it’s not technically bias.
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tags: guaranteed renewable, HR 3590, media bias, post-claims underwriting, rescission
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