3 ways insurers can discourage sick from enrolling

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http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/08/27/3348651/3-ways-insurers-can-still-avoid.html?sp=/99/261/



FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2013 file photo, an infusion drug to treat cancer is administered to a patient via intravenous drip at a cancer center hospital in Durham, N.C. Insurers can no longer reject customers with expensive medical conditions thanks to the health care overhaul, but patient advocates still see wiggle room for companies to avoid covering the sickest and costliest patients. An Associated Press survey in 2014 found that some of the nation's top cancer centers were excluded from the networks of insurance plans sold on state exchanges.

3 ways insurers can discourage sick from enrolling
By TOM MURPHY
AP Business Writer
August 27, 2014 Updated 39 minutes ago

Insurers can no longer reject customers with expensive medical conditions thanks to the health care overhaul. But consumer advocates warn that companies are still using wiggle room to discourage the sickest — and costliest — patients from enrolling.

Some insurers are excluding well-known cancer centers from the list of providers they cover under a plan; requiring patients to make large, initial payments for HIV medications; or delaying participation in public insurance exchanges created by the overhaul.

Advocates and industry insiders say these practices may dissuade the neediest from signing up and make it likelier that the customers these insurers do serve will be healthier - and less expensive.

"It's the same insurance companies that are up to the same strategies: Take in as much premium as possible and pay out as little as possible," said Jerry Flanagan, an attorney with the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.

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1. Insurance is the big fail for healthcare

Think how much money would be saved by cutting out insurance providers.