Defunding Regulators

[longfisher]

Not long ago I related a story of a conservative Gentleman in our neighborhood who fell on hard times, lost his job and then his health insurance. I tried to help him and his family, but, without Health Reform fully implemented his medical conditions prevented him from getting insurance in the private market.

Because as of September 23, 2010 Health Reform required the insurance industry to stop cherry-picking the children it'd insure, i.e., they had to accept sick children too, the insurers in my state stopped selling child-only policies entirely. Not even healthy children could get insurance unless they also had a healthy adult above the age of 19 on the plan. True to the left's lowest recriminations of the health insurance industry, they valued their wallets more than the health of our children.

Because this Gentleman couldn't be insured in the market, his children couldn't either, even though they were healthy.

One particular company here in Texas not only canceled their child-only policies, but also, told agents they wouldn't be paid a commission if they sold a policy to a healthy adult who also had a child with pre-existing conditions who would have been declined under the rules which were in effect before September 23, 2010. In other words, we were to do the company's dirty work.

I did a little research and found that in 1989 DHHS had ruled that this was a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1986. And, I provided the insurer a copy of the DHHS finding. They ignored it, of course.

When my customer got declined I shared this story with him along with the finding of the DHHS on this matter. He's a bit of a rabid Republican. But he asked how in the world could the insurance company institute a policy like this of not paying the agents (which would encourage the agents to disobey the law) when it was already found to be a violation of standing law?

I sat silent for a moment even though I knew the answer. He's hurting. He's a customer. His kids deserve the protection of health insurance. And, I'm trying to help him find it.

Finally, I had to say, "Look Clark (not his real name), the Republicans regularly press for less and less regulation. Even today, they're doing all they can to defund regulatory bodies dealing with health insurance. And, I can only suppose that the insurance companies feel they can get away with blatant illegalities towards customers because the Republicans are watching their backs."

Then I said, "One must be careful what one wishes for."

LF