Free Republic

In the wake of Scott Brown's as tounding win last week in Massachusetts, President Obama has been backpedaling faster than Darrelle Revis on health-care reform, telling reporters that Congress should "move quickly to coalesce around" parts of the health-care bill that both parties can agree on, "core elements" such as insurance reform. That might be more popular politically, but it still won't work. Take one "core element": prohibiting insurers from turning down customers with "pre-existing conditions" or charging more to customers who become sick. A bill to simply ban such practices might attract support from such GOP moderates as Maine's...

A proposal to make preexisting health conditions irrelevant in the sale of insurance policies could help not just the seriously ill but also people who might consider themselves healthy, documents released Friday by a California-based advocacy group illustrate. Health insurers have issued guidelines saying they could deny coverage to people suffering from such conditions as acne, hemorrhoids and bunions. One big insurer refused to issue individual policies to police officers and firefighters, along with people in other hazardous occupations. Some treated pregnancy or the intention to adopt as a reason for rejection. *snip* Kristin E. Binns, a spokeswoman for parent...

Early in my career as a lawyer, I did a lot of work for insurance companies. I once had a case that provoked considerable laughter: a man was building an addition to his motel. He talked with his insurance agent about builders risk insurance, which would cover the structure while it was under construction, but decided not to buy it. One night, the structure caught fire and burned to the ground. The next morning at eight o'clock, the man was at his insurance agent's office, saying that he wanted to buy that builders risk coverage after all. Once the facts...

LOS ANGELES — Citing an effort to hold down costs, health insurance giant Blue Cross wants doctors in California to report conditions it could use to cancel new patients' medical coverage, it was reported Tuesday. The state's largest for-profit health insurer is sending physicians copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients, along with a letter advising them that the company has a right to drop members who fail to disclose "material medical history," the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.