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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katelew who wrote (134468)	3/23/2010 8:33:52 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543012

I'm not sure exactly how widespread it is, different people make widely different claims about it, and its not a subject I looked in to myself in any great detail. Dropping people because they get sick is generally not legal. Doing so directly for that reason would amount to fraud, and probably would be illegal even without specific legal prohibition of it. But dropping people who provide inaccurate information on their applications can be legal, and if your costing the company a lot of money they might go over your possibly very complex applications (or other statements you've provided to them about your health or health care treatment) with a very fine tooth comb. Also absolute limits on coverage are (or at least where until the new "reform" law, and may still be, I'm not sure that point is active law yet) legal. So once you cost the company say $1.5mil they can say "you've used up your coverage, and won't be getting any more money."

To: Katelew who wrote (134468)	3/25/2010 12:31:45 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 543012

>>I've always had the understanding that insurers are prevented by law from dropping people after they get sick.<< In fact, the major insurance companies have whole departments dedicated to the task of finding excuses to cancel the policies of their sickest clients. They do so under various pretexts, usually having to do with some irregularity on the application forms. It is notable that the insurers don't see any need to drop people for problems on their applications before they get sick. They're willing to accept the premiums from such people for as long as they are still adding to the plus side of the ledger.