With the fate of health care reform in the hands of the United States Supreme Court, three large insurance companies have committed to maintaining many of health care reforms' individual protections, even if the law is deemed unconstitutional. UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Humana, Inc. will not revoke their practices with respect to certain health care reform requirements. This will certainly be good news to consumers.
Specifically, the insurers will continue to issue policies that allow children to be covered under the parent's group health plan until age 26. The elimination of lifetime benefit limits will not be reinstated, and preventive care will continue to be provided without cost-sharing. Both Humana and UnitedHealthcare have also said they will not rescind coverage except in the case of fraud and will retain appeal procedures for claim denials. Citing extreme cost implications, none of the insurers committed to revoking pre-existing condition exclusions, unless required by the Supreme Court's ruling on health care reform. It will be interesting to see if other insurers follow the lead and continue some of the welcome health care reform changes, even if not technically required under federal law.
