[NYAPRS Enews] DS: Health Insurers Recant On Pre-Existing Conditions Loophole

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Health Insurers Recant On Pre-Existing Conditions Loophole

By Michelle Diament Disability Scoop  March 30, 2010 

 

Health insurers appear to be backing off renewed efforts to exclude
children with pre-existing conditions.

 

When health insurance reform was signed into law just last week,
Democratic lawmakers said that coverage of children with pre-existing
conditions would be one of the most immediate effects. But within days,
insurers argued a detailed reading of the new legislation allowed them
to continue cutting-off kids with conditions like Down syndrome and
cerebral palsy in certain circumstances until 2014.

 

The claims were met with a sharp rebuke Monday from Secretary of Health
and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. In a letter to Karen Ignagni, head
of the health insurers' trade group America's Health Insurance Plans,
Sebelius said she would be issuing regulations in the coming weeks
requiring that insurers cover children and any pre-exiting conditions
they may have on their parents' insurance plans beginning in September.

 

"Now is not the time to search for non-existent loopholes that preserve
a broken system," Sebelius wrote.

 

Less than 24-hours later, Ignagni wrote back to say that her members
"await and will fully comply with" regulations

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