Insurers to continue practice of canceling insurance for the sick
Written by Ann Pietrangelo on June 25th, 2009 in Health Care Policy, In The News, Linked Articles.
You are one of the lucky ones. You have good health insurance and your premiums are paid on time. You enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing that should you fall ill, your insurance company has your back. Think again.
Three of the nation’s largest insurers told legislators that they did not plan to discontinue the practice of canceling medical insurance for sick policyholders. At a time when the free market system is being touted as the answer to the nation’s health care woes, the practice of rescinding coverage on folks fighting for their lives does not bode well.
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June 26th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
This happened to us in 2004, and we had heard about it for years never quite believing it.! I believe I first read about it in early 90’s in a book called “Mainstay” about MS caregiving. Not only did they cancel but canceled retroactively for over 7 years demanding repayment for years of medical providers who in turn came after us for overdue medical bills. Lawyers turned us down simply because to fight it would spend us into bankruptcy long before we ever saw a courtroom. One law professor even kindly offered me her law class for one semester for the ‘leg work’ for me and experience for them. Anyway long story short, I fought the fight myself taking almost a year and over 1,000 “billiable” hours were I an attorney. I even had to buy temporary insurance for the interim. In the end, insurance company suddenly explained it must have been a ‘glitch’ when they were updating their systems. Yeah right! No apologies, nothing.
Difficult to comment on your other site hopefully here is OK.
Caregivingly Yours,
Patrick
June 26th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Thank you for your comment, Patrick. We’ve got to keep getting our stories out there because, difficult as it is to believe, there are lots of folks that do not believe it to be true.
Sorry you couldn’t comment over on Care2 — you need to set up a profile to leave a comment, unfortunately. I appreciate you taking the time to come back to MS Maze to share your story.
Best,
Ann