. . . June
----------------
Health care reform starts, insurers look for loopholes
CBS 21 News - Breaking news, sports and weather for the Harrisburg Pennsylvania area:
A wave of changes will start Thursday as the new health care reform takes effect.
Yet, disturbing information is coming out about a number of major insurance companies planning to stop offering 'children-only' plans. A new 'Wall Street Journal' article details a number of big insurers attempting to create a loophole.
The article claims five top insurance companies will no longer sell child-only policies, but children already enrolled in a child-only plan will not be dropped.
When Pres. Obama signed health care reform into law six months ago, one of the new changes was to protect kids under 19 with pre-existing conditions. Under the law, insurers can no longer deny those children insurance. Adults with pre-existing conditions, though, have to wait until 2014.
"We're going to have to make sure the dialogue with the insurance companies is one that they know they have a responsibility for sick kids," said state Sen. Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia).
Stack is the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. He said that if the federal plan is unable to protect children, it's distressing, so keeping a dialogue with insurers is vital.
"We've been able to get that in the past and we'll be firm on this. But I'm confident we'll have that in the future," said Stack.
Read More . . .
