Got Health Insurance? Pray You Won't Get "Purged"

May 16th, 2011 10:27 PM
Got Health Insurance? Pray You Won't Get "Purged"

By Wendell Potter


You might not realize it, but this is National Small Business Week. I'm betting many small business owners aren't aware of it, either. Perhaps that's because most small business owners are far more likely to be worrying about whether they'll be able to offer health insurance to their employees for another year.

Or is this the year they join the ever-growing list of small businesses that have been "purged" by their insurance carrier?

For several years now, insurance companies have been "purging" small business accounts they no longer consider profitable enough or that their underwriters believe pose too much risk. I became familiar with "purging" (yes, that's the actual word insurance executives use internally) toward the end of my career as an industry PR man.

Virtually unknown outside of a few executive suites until I disclosed it in testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in June 2009, the practice is most prevalent at the big for-profit insurance companies -- the ones that are under the gun to meet investors' profit expectations every three months. Along with "rescinding" (cancelling) the policies of individuals who become seriously ill, purging small businesses that employ workers who get sick is a tried-and-true way of meeting Wall Street's expectations. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/got-health-insurance