Big Health Insurers Halt Child-Only Policies

Big Health Insurers Halt Child-Only Policies

Unhappy with a provision of the federal healthcare reform law banning the practice of denying coverage to children with pre-existing medical conditions, large insurance companies have decided to stop offering child-only policies in certain states. The new rules go into effect today (September 23).

Insurers made the move out of concern that parents would wait until their children were sick to enroll them in new policies.

Those dropping child-only plans include WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, CoventryOne, Humana and UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthCare. The decisions affect people in Colorado, California, Ohio, Missouri and other states.

Ethan Rome, executive director of the activist group Health Care for America Now, called the move “immoral” and the companies’ rationale for opposing the new law, “market uncertainty,” “patently dishonest.”

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Big_Health_Insurers_Halt_Child_Only_Policies_100923

a way for them to exclude all babies who are born prematurely or with other problems.

(Many employers don't offer dependent insurance, so the only option for parents is to buy individual policies for their children.)