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Turned Away for Healthcare: Companies Routinely Deny 20%

By admin | September 15, 2011

The following information was in a USA Today article on September 12, 2011:

Kaiser Health News reports that denial rates routinely exceed 20%. The data provides fresh evidence of the challenges facing people buying individual policies. Denial rates can vary widely within states. In Georgia for example Aetna’s denial rate is 15% compared with 47% for Kaiser Permanente and 67%for John Alden Life Insurance.

Two companies consistently had the highest denial rates- John Alden Life Insurance and Time Insurance, both owned by Assurant Health. The difficulty of buying individual coverage was a big reason behind the 2010 federal health overhaul.

As part of the new federal health law HHS started posting the coverage-denial rates which can be searched by zip codes at www.healthcare.gov.

A House Energy and Commerce Committee investigation into four large for profit insurers last year found that denial rates have steadily increased from 11.9% in 2007 to 15.3% in 2009.

The companies reviewed were Aetna, Humana, United Healthcare and Wellpoint.

Click here to read the full USA Today Article…

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