Excerpt
The New York Times reports, today, that health insurance companies have already started to rattle their legalistic sabres against the newly signed reform law -- claiming that they are under no obligation to provide coverage for children with pre-existing conditions.
Most human beings with a pulse will be sickened by this news -- physically disgusted to learn that one of the most powerful, profitable industries in all of history is threatening to deny children coverage in order to maximize their short term profits. For most people this kind of behavior is beyond comprehension. It is the definition of evil in our time. It is sadism -- moral rot.
Bold emphasis mine
From cited New York Times report: 3/28/2010
William G. Schiffbauer, a lawyer whose clients include employers and insurance companies, said: “The fine print differs from the larger political message. If a company sells insurance, it will have to cover pre-existing conditions for children covered by the policy. But it does not have to sell to somebody with a pre-existing condition. And the insurer could increase premiums to cover the additional cost.”
UPDATE:
"Insurance Industry Agrees To Close Child Coverage Loophole" by RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Huffington Post 03/29/2010 - 09:25 PM
Excerpt
After battling President Barack Obama's health care overhaul the better part of a year, the insurance industry said Monday it won't try to block his efforts to fix a potentially embarrassing glitch in the new law.
In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the industry's top lobbyist said insurers will accept new regulations to dispel uncertainty over a much-publicized guarantee that children with medical problems can get coverage starting this year.
Quick resolution of the doubts was a win for Obama – and a sign that the industry has no stomach for another war of words with a president who deftly used double-digit rate hikes by the companies to revive his sweeping health care legislation from near collapse in Congress.
"Health plans recognize the significant hardship that a family faces when they are unable to obtain coverage for a child with a pre-existing condition," Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, said in a letter to Sebelius. Ignagni said that the industry will "fully comply" with the regulations, expected within weeks.
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