You may recall that I hate individualized health plans. It is by far the worst part of being self-employed. You can’t get health insurance like everyone on a group plan. You have to buy one of these crappy plans.
Blue Shield was sued, along with other major insurance companies, by the state of California because they dropped people who purchased policies after they got sick. I mean, you wouldn’t expect them to actually pay for any medical expenses, would you? That would live up to their agreement. The process of dropping insured people when they get sick is called rescission.
However, now Blue Shield will now restore coverage to 700 folks that it dropped, and pay for their medical expenses incurred in the meantime:
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said he hoped the settlement would “make whole” 678 consumers dropped by Blue Shield and “put an end to rescission practices that were hurting consumers.”
“People pay their insurance premiums and expect to be taken care of,” Poizner said. “Canceling someone’s insurance can have devastating medical, emotional and financial impacts. I will continue to take action against those insurers who do not live up to their agreements.”
Thank you.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
That’s ridiculous. To get insurance you have to fill out the questionnaire … why did Blue Shield accept them if they weren’t going to pay the bills?
January 6th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I think that insurance companies generally work by insuring healthy folks and making money off folks who don’t need the insurance. If you use it, you cost them money. And without any penalty for dropping folks, they dropped them.
January 6th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Oh, I see, so they dropped them - but they still paid out on the claims? I read too fast and assumed they’d refused to pay out.
Hmm. Not surprising. My renter’s insurance policy was canceled by Met Life after I put in a claim (my bicycle was stolen). And of course, first question I was asked by other insurance companies when I looked into getting renter’s insurance again was, “Have you ever filed a claim on renter’s insurance before? How long ago?”
January 7th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Yeah, I think that’s entirely the way insurance of most sorts works.
In this case, they dropped the patients and refused to pay, but then after being sued, they are reinstating coverage and paying costs incurred in the interim. At least that’s my understanding.