Friday, April 30, 2010

Health Care Reform Comes Early

In recent weeks, many major insurers have begun implementing a provision of the new healthcare law that allows young adults to stay on their family health care plan through their 26th birthday. What's more, the industry agreed to stop denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions (after initially intending to exploit an alleged loophole in the law).

And this week, consumers and families received more good news -- the industry will scrap its "rescission" practices, four months before the new federal ban was scheduled to go into effect.

The health insurance industry has decided to end its practice of canceling claims once a patient gets sick next month, well before the new health care law would have required it, the industry's chief spokesman announced this week.

The decision to end rescission, as the practice is known, was made during a conference call of chief executives organized by their trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans. The heartening announcement on rescissions came on the heels of a report on WellPoint routinely dropping coverage for women diagnosed with breast cancer. The company said it would end the practice by this weekend.

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