Congress Should Not Let Insurance Companies Find New Ways to Cheat Customers in Health Care Reform



When: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 9:15 am (Committee hearing scheduled to begin at 10 am)



Who: Wittney Horton of Los Angeles, CA -- health insurance cancellation victim



Carmen Balber, Consumer Watchdog



Where: Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington D.C. (meet outside main entrance to committee room)



What:

Wittney Horton of Los Angeles, whose own insurance was cancelled after she sought routine medical care, will appear before the House subcommittee on Government Oversight and Investigations to urge lawmakers to stop insurance companies from canceling or downgrading insurance coverage when patients get sick.



After Horton sought routine medical care, Blue Cross scoured Horton's medical record and retroactively cancelled her coverage. Blue Cross said it would have never sold her a policy if the company had known Horton had "polycystic ovaries," a condition not disclosed on her application. The cancellation letter from Blue Cross was the first time Horton had ever heard about this condition. Horton's doctor had suspected she had the condition, noted it in Horton's medical file, but never told Horton about it.




Consumer Watchdog has urged lawmakers to bar such "rescissions" unless an insurance company could prove that the patient "intentionally misrepresented" her health condition as required under federal law. Under such an approach, Blue Cross could not cancel Horton's policy since she was not aware of the condition and therefore could not have lied about it on her application. None of the national health reforms being currently discussed would stop insurers from downgrading policies after patients get sick including raising copays and deductibles and limiting benefits.



Consumer Watchdog is a non-partisan consumer advocacy organization with offices in Washington D.C. and Santa Monica, California. Visit us on the web at http://www.ConsumerWatchdog.org.



CONTACT: Carmen Balber, +1-202-629-3043, or Jerry Flanagan, +1-310-889-4912, both of Consumer Watchdog



/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- June 15/

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog