More Carriers Weigh In On Rescissions

Several large health insurers are saying they may continue to rescind policies in cases involving fraud or material misrepresentation but will not rescind policies for other reasons.

The carriers are Blue Shield of California, San Francisco; Health Care Service Corp., Chicago; Humana Inc., Louisville, Ky. (NYSE:HUM); and UnitedHealth Inc., Minnetonka, Minn. (NYSE:UNH).

The carriers say they will implement a rescission provision included in the new federal Affordable Care in May or June, or that their practices already comply with the provision.

The provision, which officially takes effect Sept. 23, permits insurers to rescind in-force policies if and only if the applicants for the coverage have committed fraud or engaged in material misrepresentations.

California Blue notes that it has long supported universal health care, and Humana says it already complies with the rescission limits and has been offering independent reviews of the rescissions it still implements since 2008.