|
|
Home | Submit Press Release | Advertise | Submit Website
(EMAILWIRE.COM, June 26, 2013 ) San Francisco, CA -- In a lawsuit dating back to 2008, WellPoint Inc., a large insurance company, will pay $6 million to settle the case. Brought by the city of Los Angeles, the lawsuit alleged that the insurer dropped policyholders after they fell ill and filed a claim.
The process, known under the legal term, rescission, involves an insurance company improperly or illegally dropping customers to avoid paying. Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich spearheaded the investigation that looked into rescissions by several insurers in California. She stated that individuals with health insurance are entitled to coverage when they need medical treatment - exactly what WellPoint did not do.
CaliforniaÂ’s largest for-profit health insurance company is Anthem Blue Cross, which is part of WellPoint. A spokeswoman for WellPoint, Kristin Binns, declined to comment on the settlement. What has been made clear is that WellPoint denies wrongdoing and has made an effort to change its rescission practices, including the use of a third-party review process.
A slew of regulatory investigations and Times articles uncovered the fact that insurers were rescinding coverage for individuals who had expensive medical needs regardless of whether those individuals intended to deceive companies concerning pre existing medical conditions.
Included in the federal healthcare law that went into effect in 2010 was a ban on rescissions for unintentional application errors. California has agreed to set up a health exchange through which residents will be able to buy health insurance, and WellPoint was recently selected as one of the insurance companies eligible to participate.
Los Angeles County and the cityÂ’s attorneyÂ’s office will split the $6 million settlement to be handed out.
In the past, similar suits have been brought against insurance companies by the city attorney. More recently, Blue Shield of California settled a $2 million suit to resolve similar allegations.
About Insurance Quote Depot
InsuranceQuoteDepot.com (http://www.insurancequotedepot.com/) allows you to easily compare insurance rates by zip code from quality insurance companies. It is the easiest way to save time and money while shopping for insurance.
Insurance Quote Depot
Customer Service
4157669098
news@postpressrelease.com 
Source: EmailWire.com
|
|
