Lawmakers Rail Against Individual Health Insurance System

Lawmakers Rail Against Individual Health Insurance System | RTT News

"When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums," Stupak said. "But when times are bad, and you are afflicted with cancer or some other life-threatening disease, it is supposed to honor its commitments and stand by you in your time of need.

"Instead, some insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise, at a time when most patients are too weak to fight back," he added...."When you have cancer or you're in a position where your life is shortened to a matter of months, you can't go through the court system, because you don't have time to do that," Raddatz said.

The individual insurance system is "fundamentally flawed," the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee said Tuesday. In a hearing which featured individual policy holders who lost their coverage when they became ill, lawmakers railed against the insurance industry. However, insurance companies defended the practice, stating it is necessary as a tool against insurance fraud.

In his opening statement, panel chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., accused Blue Cross of California of encouraging its employees to cancel the health insurance policies of individuals with illnesses like leukemia, breast cancer, and other expensive, long term cases.

Stupak drew attention to documents that show Blue Cross supposedly giving incentive to employees who cancelled the health insurance of the patients expected to cost the company the most. Read more.