Insurance company ordered to pay $10 million for revoking policy of teen with HIV.
Insurance company ordered to pay $10 million for revoking policy of teen with HIV.
One of the worst practices of private health insurance companies is rescission, a process in which insurers use any reason they can to cancel coverage when a person gets sick. As former Cigna executive Wendell Potter explained to Think Progress, “[The insurers have] been doing it for many years and saving billions of dollars as a result of this.” Today, the Huffington Post reports that the insurance company Fortis, now known as Assurant, been ordered by the state of South Carolina to pay $10 million for wrongly revoking the insurance policy of an HIV-positive college student:
The South Carolina Supreme Court has ordered an insurance company to pay $10 million for wrongly revoking the insurance policy of a 17-year-old college student after he tested positive for HIV. The court called the 2002 decision by the insurance company “reprehensible.”
That’s the most an insurance company has ever been ordered to pay in a case involving the practice known as rescission, in which insurance companies retroactively cancel coverage for policyholders based on alleged misstatements – sometimes right after diagnoses of life-threatening diseases.
In the ruling, Justice Jean Hoefer wrote, “We find ample support in the record that Fortis’ conduct was reprehensible. … Fortis demonstrated an indifference to Mitchell’s life and a reckless disregard to his health and safety.”
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About time the govt got between the insurance company and a person’s doctor.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:31 pmThink the insurance companies will take notice? Or will we need a few more of these 7 digit awards to get their attention?
September 17th, 2009 at 1:33 pmI’m shocked I tell you! (Snark) These Insurance Companies are the bane of our existence. No wait, Wall Street is the bane of our existence. No wait ….
September 17th, 2009 at 1:33 pmGood! Now we just need more of this.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:34 pmThis happened in S.C.? I truely am shocked.
Now it goes to the Supreme Court where it will be determined the victim owes the insurance companies for all costs fighting his complaint.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:35 pmI would think that 10 million should go to person who was denied coverage. Seems this would be a more effective penalty.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:35 pmNot good enough. The insurance company with it’s lawyers will drag this out for years.
I want the company shut down for this and insurance companies removed from health care altogether.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:36 pmAll of the profit in the health insurance scam should be redistributed to all of the scams victims.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:37 pmNotice the systematic “vote downs”? Another invasion by a childish winger.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:38 pmbut but but…..that’s going to cut into the CEO’s pay isn’t it? we can’t have that…..Assurant better get their rescission pen out.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:38 pmIt does but he will probably never see a penny of it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/insurance-company-must-pa_n_289841.html
September 17th, 2009 at 1:39 pmWho’s afraid of the
big, bad death panel?
Everyone with private insurance ought to be.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:43 pmGood! It’s time to dismantle these “wealth” insurance companies. They do not ensure that we’re healthy only that we stay sick and broke.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:43 pmOnce again the trial lawyers have to act as a deterrent to bad behavior because Congress and the state legislatures won’t do their jobs. Keep this in mind next time you hear a winger advocate tort reform as the answer to all of our health care cost problems.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:43 pm.
Why is it that the patient must always suffer when their insurance company breaks the contract?
This award is an example that should be the norm.
If America is going to reward insurance companies who break contracts to “INSURE” health “CARE”, there will never be any reform, in any way or form. Imagine if ALL insurance companies faced the threat of multi-million lawsuits for contract violations? I think “self-reform” might kick in.
.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:44 pmIf you have ever read the fine print in an Assurant policy,
you will find that they can wiggle out of anything.
They also charge a fee just to apply.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:44 pm***
and the right wing loons chant:
“ACORN! ACORN! ACORN!”
.. … …
September 17th, 2009 at 1:45 pmCharge the CEO with practicing medicine w/o a license. Put him prison.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:46 pmHealth Care for PROFIT is the problem. This all started with the HMOs in the 80s. And who helped from the HMO’s you ask? Why, former Sen. Bill Frist and his father! They started the whole take over hospitals to make them private.. And now here we are…
September 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm.
Let me guess, I suppose another 100 people will have to be denied health care claims and another 100 dropped to pay for the settlement?
.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pmThink the sad part is just how much they the ins. company’s have spend on the smear fear campaign its been on in Aug. what around 35 mill or so. and they don’t even bat a eye at spending it.
However they will cry stomp and whine for this 10mill.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:48 pmAbout Darth Cheney’s back surgery –
I hear that Cheney is taking advantage of the public option health care that the American public has provided him with.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pmFining the insurance industry is an OUTRAGE…if this continues they will run out of money earmarked for Baucus, Grassly, Cantor and on and on…
September 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pmJust think for a moment of this young man who was denied coverage for a life threatening disease. He is a real person, and he is a victim of this system. My heart aches for him, since with treatment, he could live a long and productive life with the right medical care. He is one of thousands who are treated this way. The insurance companies are the real death panels, all because of their greed and unethical behavior.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pmPaying a huge fine isn’t good enough. There should be criminal sanctions against the CEO, Chairman and the entire board of directors. They are the ones who make the policy.
As far as Cheney’s back surgery, I heard that he is going in to try and have that big yellow streak removed. Since it’s exploratory and experimental it won’t be covered under his health plan or Medicare. It’s also a pre-existing condition, and he may be in danger of recission.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:54 pmWhy should an insurance company make a profit just in handling the money that you pay them to pay your doctor?
September 17th, 2009 at 1:54 pmWhy don’t we simply call “rescission” what it truly is: WILLFUL FRAUD. They want to sign policyholder en masse up without thorough and documentable “medical background investigations” and take peoples’ money, and keep taking their money ONLY until the beneficiary need to file a claim. Only then do they “investigate” and find some reason to disqualify them. For every one policyholder who subsequently sues and wins, there are probably 100 who don’t. Cha-ching! Cha-ching! Cha-ching! …
Corporate fraud. Period. The Great American Pastime.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:54 pmAre all conservatives suffering from Stockholder Stockholm Syndrome?
‘It’s not the insurance companies fault! They had to drop him! Think of the profits and those poor, poor stockholders!’
Jeebuz.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:55 pmfergus too funny!
September 17th, 2009 at 1:56 pmStories like this need to be told so people understand that the health insurance industry is a hazard to your health. The penalities for insurance companies for this type of behavior is weak and will not deter them. There needs to be criminal penalities for this, fraud would be a start, and if someone dies from such behavior it is manslaughter. More than 3 instances should be prosecuted as a criminal conspiricy like you would prosecute a mobster.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:56 pmThis is good news, but how was the patient affected? Is he reinstated? Are all his bills covered? Going forward?
There was a similar story in today’s paper: a 17 y.o. diagnosed with celiac disease was dropped by the insurance co. Her father lost his job last year; they are facing bankruptcy.
After weeks/months of giving attention to the extremists, are the papers going to start reporting these human interest stories — where the insurance companies deny sick people coverage, cancel them, and pay their executives millions in bonuses and seven figure salaries?
September 17th, 2009 at 1:56 pmdixie blood #18,
I never thought of that. Good one, couldn’t you apply that statute to anyone in the industry that sits behind an insurance company desk making any kind of treatment decisions?
Now that would be a deterent.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:58 pmjees, Assurant is my insurance company.
We pay them 1500/mo.
We have only been with them a year and they have denied us on every claim. Every one of them.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:59 pmthe problem is, if I drop assurant, who do I change to that would be different?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:00 pmThis is the best argument against being able to buy insurance across state lines from companies that do not do business in your state. Each state has a regulatory agency for insurance companies and the rules for various aspects vary from state to state. In insurance law, there is the doctrine of “good faith” and when insurance companies do not exercise it, they are liable for amounts larger than the damages. Some states allow the tripling of damages in insurance disputes. This is why the insurance companies really want tort reform. If the insurance companies federalize insurance laws, the companies will have less regulation than what the states impose.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:01 pmFortis demonstrated an indifference to Mitchell’s life and a reckless disregard to his health and safety.”
Indifference to patients life and reckless disregard to patients health and safety = profit
September 17th, 2009 at 2:02 pmP.D. How well I remember the HMOs of the 1980’s and the family who started the ball rolling. I was in the health care industry at that time and a new for-profit hospital (Humana) was being built nearby. It was a horror.
It took years, but finally the hospital was sold to the local Jesuit hospital and they are recovering from their previously terrible reputation.
I remember having to explain repeatedly and patiently to people why their insurance company would not allow them to be our patient any more; or why their Medicare coverage didn’t apply any longer.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:04 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
why should they STORM?
recission for a typo is excusable?
pups shouldn’t try taking on moral arguments.
find a nice squirrel to chase instead, m’K?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:06 pmSTORM, thanks for exposing the uncaring uderbelly of the right wingers who’s policies allowed this travisty of justice.
thanks for defending the indefensible. It reflects exactly how noble you are.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pmSTORM says:
The Nurse at the Red Cross wrote down the wrong year on the HIV test results. Resulting in the rescindment. But TP failed to report that part. Why?
Ahh, so it’s up to the patient to make sure that there are never any clerical errors on their file and insurance companies have no obligation to stop looking for nit’s to pick in an effort to screw the sick?
Is that your argument?
Seems honorable…
September 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Hi STORM
September 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pmStilll no response down in the think fast. Does it make you sad when you get faced so easily and often? Just wondering…
I’d rather have a “death counselor” than a greedy, for-profit insurance company deciding my fate WITHOUT MY CONSENT.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pmSTORM says:
The Nurse at the Red Cross wrote down the wrong year on the HIV test results. Resulting in the rescindment. But TP failed to report that part. Why?
Right, as if that was the main reason for the rescindment. Continue to be an apologist for the greed of the health insurance companies. They sure love useful tools like you.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pmstorm, thanks for looking for that loophole that would excuse the insurance companies criminal behavior.
You are the reason the gop is dying. Thanks for your contributions.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pmwhy shouldn’t it be, STORM?
it’s obviously OK in yours.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:10 pmEric Holder, our attorney general, needs to file a class action lawsuit against every insurance company that has ever used rescission, on behalf of every American that has had their insurance rescinded.
Charges of murder need to be filed against every CEO (and their executive boards) of every company whose use of rescission has lead to the death of an American.
These corporations have committed murder, not once but multiple times. That is serial murder for profit, something normally associated with organized crime. It is, to say the very least, unlawful, but no one in the United States government is willing to enforce the rule of law against the rich and powerful.
America is a lawless society.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pmstorm, we knew we could count on you to show America exactly why the gop is wrong on this issue.
You have done a marvelous job on this thread alone. Please continue to contribute. You are an invaluable asset to progressives in America.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pmStorm, obviously you’re fine with the insurance industry’s practices of rescission. Do you think that they would have stopped if they did NOT have a typo to deal with? They would have gone lengths to find ANY excuse to rescind his coverage. Perhaps they would have looked at his loved one’s medical history. OMG, high blood pressure? RESCISSION! OMG, a bloody nose? Rescission!
These are people who play the game fairly and do so by paying their premiums on time. I thought according to the personal responsibility ethos, they were deserving. But then again, with you guys, why does it seem that the ethos goes out the window once the profits of the HMOs are threatened?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pmliberty lover,
re: Cheney’s back surgery. I hear back surgery can be tricky. It sure would be horrible if Cheney was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:13 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Marie@37, The HMOs were the downfall. That’s when my family doctor retired. He had to hire another secretary just to deal with the Insurance Companies. All of this, for our love of ‘Capitalism’.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pmSTORM says:
Looking for any excuse to drop a seriously ill patient is okay in your book, STORM?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pmWhy do you think TP did not mention the Nurse’s mistake?
Why do you think the insurance company was looking for any and all mistakes?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:16 pmSounds to me like the Republican Death Panels already exist, and they’re called the Insurance Companies….
September 17th, 2009 at 2:16 pmstorm, always on the wrong side of justice and reality.
This is why republicans cannot run legitimate businesses. They do not believe in honoring their part of a contract.
They think it is noble to find a way out of doing what they have agreed to do for a fee.
That’s why they get labeled as crooks and liars.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:16 pmAs long as our healthcare provider’s priority is competing in the Wall Street beauty pageant for attractive stocks, what can we expect?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:17 pmSTORM says:
Why do you think TP did not mention the Nurse’s mistake?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
_____________
Because it’s an irrelevant detail. It obviously was not compelling enough to sway the South Carolina Supreme Court, so why should it be reported here?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:17 pmOJ could’ve used STORM on the defense
at his last trial.
but i don’t think the NV courts allow
puppies at The Bar.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:17 pmI don’t address scum such as this person directly.
If storm wants to answer for his low moral threshold I for one would love to hear him try to justify it.
Beyond that, stormy is just a tool to be used and discarded as he is truly disposable.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pmUh Oh STORM it is happening again…
September 17th, 2009 at 2:19 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
you’d better watch it dbad,
all STORM has to do is get one friend, who has 4 friends, who each have a friend of their own,
and your smart-aleck comment will be TOAST.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:22 pmpags2 says:
——————————————————————————–
This is the best argument against being able to buy insurance across state lines from companies that do not do business in your state. Each state has a regulatory agency for insurance companies and the rules for various aspects vary from state to state. In insurance law, there is the doctrine of “good faith” and when insurance companies do not exercise it, they are liable for amounts larger than the damages. Some states allow the tripling of damages in insurance disputes. This is why the insurance companies really want tort reform. If the insurance companies federalize insurance laws, the companies will have less regulation than what the states. impose
The problem with allowing insurance companies going across state lines is that they will all flock to the states that have the weakest regulations.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:24 pmSTORM:
That is the whole reason they rescinded it.
Wrong. That was the excuse they used to rescind it.
The reason was that they thought it would be expensive to treat him like they had agreed to when they thought he was healthy. So they paid people to comb through his file and find any EXCUSE to dump him…
Still wanna defend this?
You’re a chief!
September 17th, 2009 at 2:25 pmSTORM’s legal bone fides probably do equal those of the SC Supreme Court,
but I doubt he exceeds them, and they outnumber him, so
once again, the “big game” he has bagged
turns out to be a squirrel.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:26 pmYou have an insurance company that takes money every month from you.
Their deal is to cover your medical bills.
They broke not only the deal but the law.
The people that think this is ok are just you and the insurance company.
The rest of the country in saying in a loud voice that this must and will stop.
You would justify any disgusting behavior as long as you thought it made us angry. Admit it. You live to be hated, you thrive and survive on hate.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:27 pmpuppies like chasing and biting!!
they don’t know why!!
September 17th, 2009 at 2:28 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Now that would be a SH|T STORM of stupidity right there.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:30 pmSTORM says:
Can I get an answer, STORM?
Do you feel the process of rescission to be a fair and honorable business practice, one worthy of your defense?
Or were you just confused?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:31 pmSTORM says:
That is the whole reason they rescinded it.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
_____________
And?
It’s still not a major detail of the story. TP also didn’t report what color ties the attorneys were wearing and what the weather was like outside the courtroom and what brand of computer was used to type out the decision. Obviously ThinkProgress is lying to us by leaving out all these important details.
With an attention to detail like that, you could have a bright future in the health insurance industry.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pmirony, you just don’t get it.
I’m loving watching you attempt have a do-over on this.
You act like you have some kind of influence on this decision, like what you think matters. Funny.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pmstorm thinks the insurance company has been treated unjustly.
storm thinks we should take him seriously.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:34 pmStorm thinks that the insurance companies are the true victims here. So logically, if his insurance company rescinds his policy due to something happening to him, heaven forbid, he will rightfully accept the decision because it is just.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:35 pmLike any self-respecting white guy, I have the solution to this whole mess.
We need to divide the U.S. into three portions. We could call them Wingnutania, BlueDogAmerica, and the Progressive States of America. You see where I’m going.
I realize there would be a lot of relocating, but think of the jobs.
Wingnutania would be that lunar remnant known as the Right, who are pulling death panels out of their butts, etc. This would be a nation of mostly white males, practising wingnut policies–i.e., women are forced to have babies and the religious right would own everything.
They would be dead in weeks.
Judging from recent experience, BlueDogAmerica would be corporate heaven, with a slowly withering public sector–like the repubs before they turned into religous loonies.
Democrats will have to decide if they want to belong in BlueDogAmerica. In my view, Blue Dogs are not bad people. But we can all see who pulls the strings on our Blue Dog cousins, and it makes for lots of bubbles and a smaller and smaller elite that owns everything. If you don’t think this sucks, you must be a Merchant type.
It is my personal feeling that Obama belongs amongst the Blue Dogs. Just an opinion.
And then the glorious progressive America some of us thought might come about in 2008. The only catch to this is that progressives really bought into Obama, who is in fact kind of a neocon. But no one is perfect. We’ll just vet our candidates better next time, yes?
And—as long as it’s my fantasy–I would like Dennis Kucinich to be President of the progressive America. The Democrats could duke out the elections with the Greens, without all these bloody moderates and conservatives getting in the way.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:35 pmSTORM says:
#
Wiz says:
The problem with allowing insurance companies going across state lines is that they will all flock to the states that have the weakest regulations.
Your not making any sense here. What is keeping them from doing that now?
They can go to the states with the weakest regulations but they still have to comply with each state’s rules where they do business.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:42 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
TP is just trying to support the presidents attempt to vilify insurance companies
Vilify?
Then you DO find this practice honorable?
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ will do for now.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:44 pmpublic service investigoblogajouranlism is too boring for puppies,
that’s why they left out the important half of the acorn story.
squirrels are fun to chase!! sometimes even lil pups can catch one!!
September 17th, 2009 at 2:45 pmTheir governed by federal law.
Boy- you’re a ‘genious’ aren’t ya?
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/when-getting-beaten-by-yo_n_286029.html
September 17th, 2009 at 2:46 pmNow you’re just a common liar again.
tp didn’t do as you directed? waa. Tell them.
It seems you want to defend the insurance company by picking apart a case that has been settled.
TP reported on the results and you want desperatly to blame someone besides the insurance company.
YOu would love to blame tp but you got nothing. NOthing.
Why is it tp’s fault? Why didn’t you raise hell with the judicial in NC? Why storm? Why didn’t you raise money and go fight for something you belive in?
could it be because you don’t really care, you just want to incite anger and hatred?
I think that last question answers itself.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:47 pmSTORM says:
pags2 says:
They can go to the states with the weakest regulations but they still have to comply with each state’s rules where they do business.
Their governed by federal law.
Insurance companies are not regulated by federal law except to the extent they are involved in financial services. All insurance issues and regulations are done by the states and not the federal government. Go to your state government page and look up insurance commissioners or something similar.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Your apology is sufficient enough, storm. Or perhaps you are ignorant of the practice of rescission. Insurance companies seek to pass the buck onto the consumer, citing errors as if these were malicious plots to rip into the profit of the company itself. Even unintentional errors are sufficient enough to rescind the policy like the error in the news story above. If they can’t find errors, they go to the medical history of the loved ones of the patient in the hopes of finding something they can use against the patient itself.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pmRich H says:
liberty lover,
re: Cheney’s back surgery. I hear back surgery can be tricky. It sure would be horrible if Cheney was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Personally, I would just like to see him confined for the war crimes that he committed.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pmvilifying insurance companies is easy. All you need is facts.
TP is not the only ones exposing them and you are guilty of shielding criminals. You are, in the words of bugs bunny, dispicable.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pmAs I’ve said before, the health insurance is just a cover for their real business, making money.
We used to make stuff. If people didn’t like the stuff, they wouldn’t buy it. So it was in your best interests to make good stuff. This is capitalism.
Now they provide “services”, and the companies that do so get to make their own rules, so they provide minimum of service for the most profit.. Power and insurance providers are a good example. This is not capitalism. I think there is another word for it. Corporatocracy ?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pmIf someone tries to knowingly commit insurance fraud then yes. That is why we have a court system and laws.
Is that the case here?
Or did the insurance company comb through his records looking for any and all mistakes so they wouldn’t have to fulfill their obligation to cover his medical expenses?
Now you’re against Tort Reform?
I can’t keep up with the mental gymnastics your world view requires…
September 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pmhttp://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=27994
September 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pmSTORM says:
.
We do?
What do those things say about disclosing the identity of someone on the NOC list?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pmHey STORM belaccifer lacca asked you a question. If you are not here just to seek negative attention and try and cause disruption, why not answer?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pmtombaker says:
STORM says:
That is why we have a court system and laws
Apparently, STORM feels tort reform is a terrible idea, tom.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:52 pmYou are not intelligent enough to be commenting on this. In the first place they are governed by individual state laws and in the second place please learn to use the English language.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pmLate in the hearing, Stupak, the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show “intentional fraud.”
The answer from all three executives:
“No.”
of course this is bona fides from the executives, right? But then again, you want to go looking for a problem that doesn’t exist in the extent that your imagination believes it does. What about the guy whose doctor did NOT tell him about the diagnosis but his charts given to the insurance company was excuse enough to rescind the policy?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
oh i think there’s a lot less thought put into it than that, b.lacca.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:54 pmThat is not true. Federal law limits the preexisting conditions that health-care insurers and plans may put into their policies
Did you miss # 83, STORM?
Or the entire thread on this a couple of days ago?
Let me help…
It turns out that in eight states, plus the District of Columbia, getting beaten up by your spouse is a pre-existing condition.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/when-getting-beaten-by-yo_n_286029.html
September 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pmstormy has gone over the edge. He’s resorted to just plain lying to counter any argument we come up with.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Tort law is a state issue and governed by state law. If we federalize tort law in some areas, your case would be governed by the federal law which will restrict your damages. That is only part of the tort reform the Republicans are in favor of federal laws. They want to federalize products liability which governs defective products. The PL law holds everyone in the chain of supply of the product, liable for damages. This means if the manufacturer is out of business the distributors and point of sale companies are liable.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:58 pmback to civics class for you, puppy!
State Insurance Commissions/Commissioners – lookee uppee
chase your squirrels after homework is done!!
good righty puppies support State’s Rights, don’t they??
don’t worry, i won’t tell the big dogs from your side.
i’m sorry.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:58 pmso your main complaint is that the insurance company got punished at all for breaking the law. That about it?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:59 pmMedical Malpractice tort reform is very necessary to help reduce the cost of health insurance. And I support that.
Like you support rescission, even rescission based on a clerical error?
Please don’t tell the world that that is the Conservative platform… us Progressives would be up a creek if you guys started telling everyone how important Insurance Company Profits are…
P.S. Medical Malpractice Tort reform doesn’t reduce costs… sorry.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:00 pm…except for those States which have already enacted it, only to find it really doesn’t have much impact.
dang it!!
i really thought you were going to come up with wild boar or a big doe that time, STORM…
..but it’s just another scrawny lil ol squirrel,
oh well – Huck’ll still like it – prolly pat you on the head and let you have the guts when he dresses it out!!
puppies like entrails!!
September 17th, 2009 at 3:01 pmI think the insurance apologist Storm is here to keep us from commenting on his hero, Limpball’s, thread.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:03 pmYou moderate conservatives getting this. storm thinks that patients should pay the fees demanded of them and accept the terms dictated by the insurance company and all of that be capitalism.
But, if there is a problem and the patient gets harmed, that patient should just say: “that’s ok”
In other words capitalism for the consumer and socialism for the insurance company.
Wow. I can do as I please and charge what I please and no one can do anything about it. Must be a dream of capitalists.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:04 pmthanks for the tip, rich
i’ve been meaning to pop back over there,
and see what those rambunctious pups have been up to…
i’ll bet there’s chewed up sneakers and squirrel fur everwhere!!!
September 17th, 2009 at 3:05 pmEvery state has an insurance commisioner.
It is an elected office, and regulations vary from state to state.
And Storm, don’t feel too sorry for the insurance companies.
Do you know that they have doctors that work exclusively for them, whose job it is to find some argument in your medical records to deny payment?
So, every time you see a doctor, you’re paying for two.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:07 pmThe only health care these guys care about is their companies financial health.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:07 pmThe calls for tort reform started with a California case involving a Ford Pinto. The car was rear ended and the driver was burned over a good portion of his body. He had at least 150 skin grafts. During the discovery phase, the attorney for the guy who sued, found documents showing Ford chose to cover the exploding gas tank because the recall would cost $40 million dollars to the company for a 5 cent plastic piece. Management made a financial decision not to repair. The jury came back with a judgment for $144 million, most of which were punitive damages. It shocked everyone, but the judge refused to reduce the award. It went up for appeals and it settled but the amount was never disclosed. There were other similar cases pending all over the US.
This is why the Republicans want to federalize some tort law.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:08 pmSTORM says:
If someone tries to knowingly commit insurance fraud then yes. That is why we have a court system and laws.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
____________
And if someone tries to knowingly commit insurance fraud, there is a system in place to handle that. It is the very justice system you mentioned. Individuals can be accused of insurance fraud, arrested, tried by an impartial jury, and convicted if their guilt is proved by the evidence.
That has nothing to do with the practice of recission, in which the insurance company plays the judge, jury, and – in cases of terminal illness – the executioner.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:08 pmWhat do you suppose drives people like Storm to lie awake nights worrying about the plight of poor insurance company CEOs who only bring home a few hundred million dollars per year?
September 17th, 2009 at 3:12 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Remember when Republicans used to be fer states rights instead of agin ‘em.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:14 pmpuddle: That is not true. Federal law limits the preexisting conditions that health-care insurers and plans may put into their policies.
It that was true, why would this case have been settle in a state court?
September 17th, 2009 at 3:16 pmSTORM says:
TP is just trying to support the presidents attempt to vilify insurance companies…
Justifiably so. They are villains.
.
STORM says:
Your trying to making the argument that insurance companies are not regulated by the federal government?
Not enough. The necessary regulation to prevent these abuses are in the health care plan before Congress, which you oppose.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:17 pmcommon all lets face it what the insurance company did was 100$ right.
after all they probably got there orders from god. So the right thinks its right….. and if god wanted us all protected he would not give anyone of us per-exestine conditions.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:18 pmSTORM,
Are you trying to avoid a difficult truth?
September 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pmshoeless says:
pags2 says:
——————————————————————————–
This is why the Republicans want to federalize some tort law.
Remember when Republicans used to be fer states rights instead of agin ‘em.
Republicans have a selective memory when it comes to the 10th Amendment. The Schiavo case was another violation of the amendment when Congress tried to pass a law. The same things apply to Republicans who want strict construction of the Constitution. They are not in favor of it for abortion, gay rights and marriage, etc., because they want federal laws governing the issues. On other issues they complain about the judges.
Politics is the art of determining whose ox gets gored.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pmSTORM says
September 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Federal law limits the preexisting conditions that health-care insurers and plans may put into their policies.
_____________________________________________________________
If you’re talking about HIPAA, that applies only to health insurance offered through an employer as a group plan. It doesn’t apply to those people buying insurance on their own.
Furthermore, HIPAA doesn’t limit the pre-existing conditions that may be put in the policy (although some states have laws about that). It does limit how far back an insurer may look for a pre-existing condition in someone’s record, and it limits the amount of time a person may be excluded for a pre-existing condition.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:20 pmYour trying to making the argument that insurance companies are not regulated by the federal government?
No. You are trying to argue (incorrectly) that there are not individual state regulations for insurance companies that vary state to state.
This is wrong.
As is the process of rescission.
As are you.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:20 pmshoeless @ 3:12
Imagined fear of loss of control by the “socialist” boogie man, that doesn’t exist.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:29 pmDon’t worry, Storm. The “patriotic” corporate capitalist control you.
You just need to work harder so you can pay them whatever they ask.
STORM says
September 17th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Medical Malpractice tort reform is very necessary to help reduce the cost of health insurance. And I support that.
_____________________________________________________________
Um…”very necessary”??? Did you know that all the costs associated with malpractice add up to about 1% to 1.5% of all medical costs in this country? And you think focusing on this is more “necessary” than looking at the profits of health insurance companies, which can be around 20% to 30%?
Think about it. If you eliminated malpractice altogether — no malpractice insurance, no malpractice suits, no malpractice awards — you’ve just shaved about 1% off health care costs. And that’s a highly unlikely scenario — malpractice insurance and suits will always exist in some form. Do you really think this is a reduction that’s going to result in lower premiums? Do you really think this is going to make a difference in affordability to anyone?
Furthermore, the cost of malpractice has gone up somewhere between 5% and 6% in the past decade. Health care costs overall have gone up about 74% in the same period.
How do you justify malpractice suits being the biggest boogeyman of all?
September 17th, 2009 at 3:31 pmStorm has swallowed the industry idea that medical malpractice suits are frivolous and unnecessary. In his world, the consumer or patient must rely on the bona fides of the corporations they are at the mercy of. If the GOP can’t get tort reform or an ultimate ban on suits against corporations, they have resorted to packing the courts with big business-friendly judges more sympathetic to the corporation than to the consumer.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:35 pmOnce the feds take jurisdiction over malpractice in the health care industry, the trend will be to expand to many other areas.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:37 pmCorporatism.
Fascism spelled with a C.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:50 pmcan’t you silly “libruls” see?
stormy isn’t defending the insurance companies….
he’s just whining about TP
just call whine wun wun and get him his waaaambulance and be done with it
September 17th, 2009 at 3:53 pmI think it’s pretty clear that we’re dealing with someone who works for the health insurance industry or possibly the child of someone who does. The inability to put together a proper sentence makes me lean towards the latter.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:30 pmUpton Sinclair said it best: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
September 17th, 2009 at 4:31 pmPat Pomery says:
Maybe this student should have used a rubber?
Maybe this insurance company shouldn’t have tried to weasel out of their agreed obligation.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:56 pmOr turned down a blood transfusion? Think before you hate!
September 17th, 2009 at 5:01 pmThey’ll drag this case out on appeals for 30 years and pay with inflated dollars after getting the amount reduced by a factor of 10.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:20 pmI had a minor operation done (10 years ago), it back fired, I needed a 5way bypass because of it, the Insurance Company didn’t want to pay for it because I did not have a heart attack…the knew that I only had a 50% chance of surviving one which was going to happen real soon…my doctor informed them that I (or my surviving wife) could sue the fcuk out of them because it was the stints that created the situation in the first place…thanks to my doctor I am alive and doing well, the Insurance paid instead of getting sued.
Private Insurance is a death panel.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:24 pmPat Pomery says:
Maybe this student should have used a rubber?
Or not pricked his toe on a needle in the park…you are an idiot.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:27 pmPat Pomery says:
Maybe this student should have used a rubber?
September 17th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
_____________
So should your father.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:28 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Its not this kids fault he has AIDS.
So why are you arguing that his insurance company has the right to reject his coverage?
Quick, look over there! Acor… I mean Rev. Wright!!!
Slime.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:58 pm140 + P.P. = tacky and tawdry don’t go far enough…
inhuman.
like manson.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:37 pmThey’ll drag this case out on appeals for 30 years and pay with inflated dollars after getting the amount reduced by a factor of 10
.
You’re damn right they willd, and I am sure they will not have any reservations about using a high priced trial lawyer to do there dirty work for them.
They were against high priced trial lawyers before they were for them.
Hypocrites
September 17th, 2009 at 6:46 pmDo you think these two loving gents used condoms when Bush had his Monica moment February 9, 2005?
September 17th, 2009 at 7:07 pmReggie,
I’ve always suspected, but that’s just creepy.
September 17th, 2009 at 7:33 pmRich H says:
No it’s not, they are a cute couple. Can you imagine what the wing nut press would have done if a gay escort visited the Whitehouse 90 times during a Democatic Administration?
Have you ever seen the video of Bill Mahr outing Ken Melman that was pulled off YouTube.
Melam handed in his resignation as Republican party Chairman a few days later.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pmSTORM says:
You must not be up on your Rev wright.
Its not this kids fault he has AIDS.
You are arguing here that everyone who contracts AIDS deserves to die. Am I understanding you correctly?
.
misscoleopteramolly says:
Did you know that all the costs associated with malpractice add up to about 1% to 1.5% of all medical costs in this country?
No, STORM doesn’t know it, and even after you told him, STORM still doesn’t know it. Wingnuts have an information filter that blocks out anything that inconveniences the dogmatic paradise they live in.
.
chiroptera toasterhead says:
So should your father.
I’m looking for the option on TP to vote this up by +100. Can anybody help me find that button?
September 18th, 2009 at 1:17 amSTORM says:
——————————————————————————–
The Nurse at the Red Cross wrote down the wrong year on the HIV test results. Resulting in the rescindment. But TP failed to report that part. Why?
Whuh? I’m not quite sure why ThinkProgress should need to include this bit of information. This isn’t a case where something was omitted that would make a crucial difference as to how the the reader should view this story. If anything, it just reinforces the story’s slant that the insurance company was wrong, wrong, wrong – as proven by the judgment against them:
http://www.thesunnews.com/575/story/1068536.html
Seriously, STORM – if you’re trying to use this little “omission of fact” as some way of implying ThinkProgress writes its articles out-of-context which changes the whole view of the story (which it seems you are), this is a pretty poor example to use.
September 18th, 2009 at 8:40 amHey Storm, Did ya ever notice (Andy Rooney voice) that most folks who follow your position are usually smokers, who are between 30 and 80 pounds over weight, and over the age of 55? I am very a very fit and active 50 year old who just came up with a wonderful idea. Let’s just start all over and say that if you can pass certain physical fitness tests you can get a huge discount on your health insurance premium. And after that lets run with Michelle Bauchman’s theory that the government wants to “Control the food you eat” (that’s right) and give us who ingest healthy food and healthy dietary supplements another discount. Yes let’s DO THAT because then fat, drunken don’t give a shit about their health morons like yourself with have to shoulder the burden that those of us health consious people are tired of. Observation: If you want to hide from conservatives just go to a HEALTH FOOD STORE!
September 18th, 2009 at 10:10 amThank you for your sharing.!
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:43 amA $10 million inconsiderate move on the insurance company’s part. gögüs estetigi
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:00 am