Blue Shield Health Insurance rescission case to go to trial
Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance will stand trial next week in an Orange County court, in the first court case of its kind, to decide if the company owes any recompense to California resident Steve Hailey, whose insurance was revoked after a debilitating car accident. The case will address a long-standing practice among insurance companies of dropping clients when medical bills become too pricey, typically be searching through some 20 years worth of medical records to find anything the client might have left off their application for eligibility. In many cases, the rescission is given for something unrelated to the client?s increase in medical bills, as in the case of Steve Hailey, whose coverage was revoked because of an omission of hypertension and headaches on the application. The practice of rescission has left many clients uninsured when they are most in need, and many hospitals and doctors saddled with high debt. The case has much potential to influence health insurance disputes in the coming years.
See "Blue Shield Health Insurance rescission case to go to trial", Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2009