On Wednesday, Los Angeles city prosecutors filed an amended civil complaint accusing the health insurance company WellPoint of misleading the public earlier this year by stating that it had changed its policies for rescinding patients’ coverage after they become ill, the Los Angeles Times reports. WellPoint is the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross of California.
In 2008, the city attorney’s office sued WellPoint over claims of false advertising and fraud related to WellPoint’s rescission practices. In April 2010, Reuters reported that WellPoint had targeted women with breast cancer for investigations that led to policy cancellations. The Obama administration later cited the Reuters investigation in criticizing WellPoint and the practice of rescinding coverage.
At the time, WellPoint denied the information in the Reuters report, stating, “We do not single out breast cancer or pregnancy” as criteria for policy cancellations. WellPoint later announced early implementation of a provision of the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) that bars insurers from rescinding customers’ policies unless they lied on their applications.
Complaint Alleges Rescissions Continue
According to Los Angeles prosecutors, WellPoint issued three “false and misleading” press releases following the Reuters investigation. In addition to inaccurately claiming that it has changed its rescission-related procedures, WellPoint continues to target women with breast cancer for possible rescissions, prosecutors allege. They acknowledged that the company’s policy cancellations had slowed to a “trickle” but said that the problem still exists.
WellPoint denied wrongdoing, stating, “The city attorney’s allegations are misguided, and the company will vigorously defend the new claims” (Helfand, Los Angeles Times, 10/14).
Reprinted with kind permission from https://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
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