Between Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint, that averages out to a denial of coverage for one out of every seven applicants, according to an Energy and Commerce Committee memo about the investigation.
The memo, released by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak [1], both Democrats, touts provisions in the health care reform bill that address pre-existing condition denials.
But all politics aside, the investigation contains some interesting figures and information culled from thousands of pages of documents provided by the insurers. The memo points out, for instance, that since 2007, the number of denials on the basis of pre-existing conditions has risen each year, outpacing the increase in applications for insurance coverage:
A year-by-year analysis shows a significant increase in the number of coverage denials each year. The insurance companies denied coverage to 172,400 people in 2007 and 221,400 people in 2008. By 2009, the number of individuals denied coverage rose to 257,100.Between 2007 and 2009, the number of people denied coverage for pre-existing conditions increased 49%. During the same period, applications for insurance coverage at the four companies increased by only 16%.GO HERE to read more.
4 comments:
so? lets say one of your parents just passed. the funeral cost $10k and you go to the insurance company to get insurance for him/her. why would you wait until AFTER he/she passed to shop for life insurance? why should the company just cut you a check for $10k? wouldnt be very many companies open for very long if that were the case.
9:38 the point in a lot of these cases is that people have pre-existing conditions that they didn't even know about. Suppose you started a health plan during open season in March, then in August your doctor finds a tumor that has been growing about a year. Suddenly you're dropped for a "pre-existing" condition and left to die because of something no one even knew about. I think your tune would change then.
Lets not even get into the moral debate, you know where we're talking about someone's life rather than profit to an already billionaire.
but I thought these insurance companies were honest good guys working hard just to make a buck.
emotions are dangerous things and should not be present in any business dealings. why should an insurance company be on the hook for your condition?
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