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Health Net loses on "health insurance cancellation" case

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

When Health Net learned Bates had cancer, and dropped her in January 2004, Bates was stuck with more than $129,000 in medical bills and was forced to stop chemotherapy for several months until she found a charity to pay for it.

The private arbitration judge (Judge Sam Cianchetti, a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ) wrote:

"Health Net was primarily concerned with and considered its own financial interests and gave little, if any, consideration and concern for the interests of the insured,

The LA Times noted:

At the arbitration hearing, internal company documents were disclosed showing that Health Net had paid employee bonuses for meeting a cancellation quota and for the amount of money saved.

"It's difficult to imagine a policy more reprehensible than tying bonuses to encourage the rescission of health insurance that keeps the public well and alive," the judge wrote.

Full post as published by IPBiz on February 24, 2008 (boomark / email).