Kevin Drum writing at Mother Jones reports on the recent hearing on health insurance:
Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigationsdecided to investigate the practice of recission. This is when you payyour premiums for years to a healthcare insurer, then get sick, and then have your insurance cancelled. The insurance industry executives at the hearing did not exactly cover themselves with glory:
A Texas nurse said she lost her coverage, after she was diagnosedwith aggressive breast cancer, for failing to disclose a visit to adermatologist for acne.
The sister of an Illinois man who died of lymphoma said his policywas rescinded for the failure to report a possible aneurysm andgallstones that his physician noted in his chart but did not discusswith him.
….Late in the hearing, [Bart] Stupak, the committee chairman, putthe executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he wouldat least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions exceptwhere they could show "intentional fraud."
The answer from all three executives: "No."
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said that a public insurance plan shouldbe a part of any overhaul because it would force private companies totreat consumers fairly or risk losing them. "This is precisely why weneed a public option," Dingell said. .. .