Health Insurance Companies Taking Advantage of Health Bill Loopholes

Posted in Health Insurance

March 30th, 2010

Just when President Barack Obama thought he was able to have the last laugh in his battle against insurance companies, it looks like the get a few chuckles themselves as they find loopholes in the health bill to take advantage of.

In a recent report from the New York Times, they discuss how health insurance giants have found loopholes to avoid paying for child with preexisting medical conditions, one of the very issues Obama tried to defeat in the health care reform bill.

They Don’t Have to Insure Your Child

According to lawyers for several big health insurance companies, while they would be required to pay for the conditions of any child that they insure, they are not obligated to take on the child in the first place. Even worse, an entire family could get rejected for coverage if one of their children had a pre-existing condition or the policy specified it would not cover costs associated with it.

Lawmakers in Early Stages of Long Battle

Unfortunately, it looks like the idea of solving the problem of unfairly denying coverage to children like baby Alex, who was denied coverage for being heavier than most babies, is far from over. Lawmakers have already acknowledged that they are in for a long battle when it comes to making the health insurance companies go along with what they hoped to accomplish with the health care reform bill.

Nonetheless, lawmakers forge ahead in hopes of getting the kinks straightened so that families can get affordable insurance that will accept individuals with preexisting conditions.