Obama Administration Calls on WellPoint To Stop Targeting Breast Cancer Patients

Congressional Republicans continue to call for repeal of health insurance reform even as news reports surface that the insurance giant WellPoint has been singling out breast cancer patients for "investigation, with the intent to cancel their policies" and even using a computer algorithm to systematically target them:

The women all paid their premiums on time. Before they fell ill, none had any problems with their insurance. Initially, they believed their policies had been canceled by mistake.

They had no idea that WellPoint was using a computer algorithm that automatically targeted them and every other policyholder recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The software triggered an immediate fraud investigation, as the company searched for some pretext to drop their policies, according to government regulators and investigators.

In response to the reports, yesterday Speaker Pelosi said:

WellPoint's practice of dropping anyone's coverage when they get sick -- whether a woman with breast cancer or any other patient -- is exactly the kind of insurance company abuse our new health care law prohibits.

Soon every American can be secure knowing that their insurance companies cannot cancel their coverage because of an illness.

And when Republican leaders call for repeal of the health reform law, they are endorsing a return to these abusive policies that have no place in our medical system.

In response to the reports, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius issued a letter to WellPoint, urging the company to "immediately stop dropping coverage for women with breast cancer":

I was surprised and disappointed to read media accounts indicating that WellPoint routinely rescinds health insurance coverage from women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Today's report from Reuters indicating that your company "has specifically targeted women with breast cancer for aggressive investigation with the intent to cancel their policies" is disturbing, and this practice is deplorable.

As you know, the practice described in this article will soon be illegal. The Affordable Care Act specifically prohibits insurance companies from rescinding policies, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact.

WellPoint should not wait to end the unconscionable practice of deliberately working to deny health insurance coverage to women diagnosed with breast cancer. I urge you to immediately cease these practices and abandon your efforts to rescind health insurance coverage from patients who need it most.

Breast cancer is the second-leading type of cancer among women, has touched millions of families, and will affect one in eight American women during their lifetime. This year alone, an estimated 192,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

I hope you will consider these women and their families as you work to end this harmful practice.

The new health care reform law prohibits insurance companies from rescinding policies, except in cases of fraud or blatant misrepresentation, starting this fall.