HEALTH REFORM
August 3, 2009 Freelancers! Now is the time to protect your family’s future from the health insurance practice called recission. Recission is the ongoing practice by health insurance companies to cancel your health insurance policy at the moment you need it most : when you've been diagnosed with a costly-to-treat disease. You can pay your premiums for years, and the health insurance company will gladly take you money. But, catch an expensive disease and your medical history gets investigated for the slightest reason the health insurer can use to cancel your policy. An example : at a recent Congressional subcommittee hearing, a former registered nurse Robin Beaton testified that when she was diagnosed with an invasive, aggressive form of breast cancer, Blue Cross cancelled her insurance. Only because of her Congressman’s advocacy was her insurance re-instated 4 months later, after her tumor had almost quadrupled in size. At Ms. Beaton’s cancer support group, 4 other women have had their insurance policies canceled and two of those women have had to declare bankruptcy. The LA Times and Congress, despite the health insurance companies’ testimony to the contrary, have found case after case that systems are in place within the health insurance industry to reward employees who save the health insurance companies’ money by finding reasons to deny claims and cancel policies. For instance, one person’s policy was canceled after an agent for the insurance company had incorrectly filled out the patient’s weight on a form, and didn’t allow the patient to review the information. Days before a man was to receive a life saving procedure for lymphoma, his insurance was cancelled due to prior medical conditions he didn’t know he had, because his doctor hadn’t informed him of the presence of those conditions. Ms. Beaton’s policy was rescinded a week before surgery for breast cancer because she hadn’t reported a doctor’s visit for acne. Another way the insurance companies can get you is by asking you to disclose information for conditions with highly technical medical terms. For instance, the CEO of Asurant Health had to admit that he didn’t know what TIA and lymphadenopathy were, yet the Asurant Health medical insurance application asked applicants about those conditions. This is not a case of rogue employees acting against policy with large corporations. At that same recent Congressional Subcommittee hearing on recission, when the CEO’s of the largest health insurance companies were given the chance by Congress to end the practice of recission (except in cases of fraud), their responses were clear : Chairman Stupak: Would you commit today that your company will never rescind another policy unless there was intentional fraudulent misrepresentation in the application?
Don Hamm (CEO, Assurant Health): I would not commit to that. ... Richard Collins (CEO, Golden Rule): No, sir. We follow the State laws and regulations and we would not stipulate to that. … John Sassi (CEO, Consumer Business, WellPoint): No, I can't commit to that. WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT TO YOU In the larger health care debate all across the United States, recission only effects those with individual health policies, so it only effects a small percentage of Americans. The health insurance companies claim that it affects something like one half of one percent of medical insurance claims. In our lighting industry, because of the high percentage of freelancers in our industry, our families are particularly vulnerable to the practice of medical insurance recission because of our dependence on individual insurance policies. Right now, Congress is crafting a Health Reform Bill. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, whether you believe in small or big government, if you are a freelancer, if you are dependent on buying your own medical insurance, it is in your family’s best insurance to be an advocate for their future, and make sure that the practice of medical insurance policy recission becomes illegal. SIMPLE STEPS YOU CAN MAKE TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
Two senators represent every state in the United States. Find out who they are here. You have one Congressperson that represents your Congressional District in the House of Representatives. Find your Congressperson here. You’ll need you Zip Code + 4, which you can find here. Write them or call them. If you wish copy the following text or use it as a basis for your own email. Representative XXX (Or Senator XXX if you’re writing your Senators) :
For the sake of protecting the future of families across America, I am asking you to end the medical insurance industry’s practice of wrongful recission of medical insurance policies.
As I am sure you are well aware, on July 16, 2009, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce received clear testimony to Chairman Stupak, that the CEO’s of largest medical insurance companies in the United States, Asurant, WellPoint and Golden Rule, refused to end the practice of recission. With the important Health Care Reform now ongoing through Congress, I urge you to ensure that provisions to end medical insurance recission make it into the final bill. Please help protect Americans from this shameful practice. Currently, members of Congress are on recess and are home. This is the time when they really listen to you, the people who vote to put them in office. Now, when they are home and while there is a pause in the health care debate, can you have the most impact to change business practices in the health insurace industry. SPREAD THE WORD We’re not the only industry with a large amount of freelancers. People we work with everyday, from other designers, to performers are affected by recission practices. Graphic designers, architects, independent contractors like carpenters, electricians, are all affected by recission. Spread the word. With three simple emails, you can protect your family’s future. Further reading :
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Issues affecting Lighting Designers |