Say Goodbye to Some Health Care Coverage for Children

As the Wall Street Journal reports, some health care companies are resorting to somewhat sneaky tactics as the health care overhaul moves into place this week. Several of the nation’s largest health insurers are no longer writing new individual polices for children, since the new requirement going into effect says that children receive coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions.WellPoint Inc., for instance, the largest U.S. managed-care company by membership, has said that they are suspending the sale of their child-only policies except in states that require them.  This will go into effect September 23^rd, the same day that the new U.S. health care overhaul goes into effect.Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. are following suit as well.WellPoint explained that, “While some carriers may continue to offer child-only policies, other carriers have dealt with this lack of clarity by choosing to discontinue new business sales of their child-only policies. Some have cited the lack of an effective mandate for individuals to obtain coverage, as well as ongoing market uncertainty.”In response, Health Care for America Now, an advocacy group that pushed for passage of the overhaul, has said that, “We’re just days away from a new era when insurance companies must stop denying coverage to kids just because they are sick, and now some of the biggest changed their minds and decided to refuse to sell child-only coverage.” HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome continued by saying, “The latest announcement by the insurance companies that they won’t cover kids is immoral, and to blame their appalling behavior on the new law is patently dishonest.”