Blue Shield Reinstates Health Coverage
The LA Times reports that Blue Shield of California has agreed to reinstate the health insurance policies of roughly 700 California residents whose health plans were canceled after they got sick. Blue Shield also agreed to the way they handle their individual health insurance plans. In exchange for the agreement, the state of California dropped its lawsuit against Blue Shield and will not pursue $12.6million in fines.
In September the state reached a similar settlement with Health Net, who agreed to reinstate nearly 1,000 policy holders whose health coverage was canceled when they got sick. In addition, Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente and other California health insurance companies reached similar agreements with the state last year.
The health insurance companies have maintained no wrong doing and maintain that the state allows them to review old medical records after the policy holder becomes ill, and determine if the policy holder left vital information off of their enrollment application.
