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Pelosi: Health Insurance Companies Are Violating Their Promise to Cover Children with Pre-Existing Conditions

September 21, 2010

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on reports that health insurance companies in some states will stop offering child-only coverage – just before health insurance reform’s Patient’s Bill of Rights takes effect on Thursday and insurers are no longer permitted to withhold coverage from children with a pre-existing condition. Families have other options for insurance for children with pre-existing conditions under health reform, but the move is in clear contradiction to what the insurance industry promised in the spring:

“Health insurance companies, which have long discriminated against millions of people when they need coverage the most, are now violating their promise to write new policies to cover children with pre-existing conditions. Earlier this year, the companies pledged to cover children with pre-existing conditions – in keeping with the spirit of reform that requires they no longer drop coverage for these children. Now, some companies are backtracking on writing new policies, potentially leaving many children without the health insurance they desperately need.

“Under reform, families of these children have new options, but this reversal of their promise reinforces why a whole slate of new patients’ rights must not be rolled back by Congressional Republicans – because time after time, insurance companies will place profits over patients.”

Issues:Health Care