California health plans may face greater scrutiny when they terminate an individual's policy. The Department of Managed Health Care is considering whether to require insurers to get independent review of cancellation decisions. KPBS Reporter Kenny Goldberg has more.
State regulators say they're already investigating health plans' cancellation policies. Insurance companies maintain they have the right to terminate a policy a person lied or even made a mistake on their application. Insurers say they cancel only a small fraction of all policy holders.
Jerry Flanagan is with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. He says court records shows Blue Cross alone reviews about 80,000 policies a year.
Flanagan: We don't know how many of those were rescinded, but even if it's a small percentage, we're talking about thousands of people each year at just one insurance company.
Kaiser says it's working with state regulators to come up with standards to protect members from unfair terminations. In contrast, Blue Cross and Blue Shield have argued their procedures are sound.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
