Blue Cross of California has agreed to change its practice of canceling individual health insurance policies. The action comes as the company attempts to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by people who claim their coverage was illegally terminated. KPBS reporter Kenny Goldberg has more.
Blue Cross has maintained it has the right to cancel a policy even if a person made an honest mistake on their application.
Now the company says it won't rescind coverage unless it finds a member was deceptive.
Jamie Court is with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. He has some reservations about the new policy.
Court : What we're worried about is that Blue Cross is still going be determining who intentionally misled them. And we need regulators to write new rules, to step in to create an external process.
State regulators fined Blue Cross $1 million earlier this year for illegally terminating policies. Regulators say the company cancelled some members after they became pregnant.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
