Which is the basic problem, since insurance is really legalized gambling. Whether it’s your house, health or car, you’re paying (betting) money in the hopes you never cash in on your investment. Insurance companies are betting on the same thing, especially since they get your money up front. And once they have your money they stack the deck… completely in their favor.
Executives of three of the nation’s largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.
The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation’s healthcare system.
An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.
It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses.
Hmm… so much for risk. This practice of rescission is not only immoral and unethical it should be illegal. The fact that it’s more like daily operating procedure designed to pump up profits displays one the most damning problems with For Profit health insurance companies.
Republicans and Democrats called them out on this practice, but the health insurance executives basically shrugged and “would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud to obtain coverage, a refusal that met with dismay from legislators on both sides of the political aisle.”
Would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud? WTF? Seriously, these companies have no shame, and while I’m not a litigious person I wouldn’t shed a tear if these companies were dragged into court over these “practices.” How do they get away with this? And can you imagine any other business behaving in such a way?
We need a public option – if for no other reason than giving the victims of rescission a place to go. And if the insurance company shysters cry and complain… oh well, they’ll be crying alone.