Ian’s Law: Real Health Insurance Reform

Ian Pearl needs extremely expensive medical care, including 24-hour in-home nursing. Two years ago, Guardian Life Insurance Company wanted to cancel Ian’s coverage. But, because of a New York State law preventing insurance companies from cancelling policies due only to high costs to the company, they weren’t able to.

Instead, Guardian decided to cancel the entire line of coverage that Ian had, which would have left him, and about 500 other with no insurance. Ian, whose medical costs are over $1 million a year, obviously would not have been able to sustain his care.

Luckily, the press paid some attention to Ian’s story, and Guardian reversed its decision, reinstating the line of coverage.

Too many other, though, have had to face this despicable practice, and that’s why we’re supporting Ian’s Law – S6263 – introduced in the State Senate last week by Senator Eric Schneiderman.

The law would:

• require requests by insurance companies to discontinue lines of coverage to be approved by the State Insurance Department
• the Insurance Department would only be able to approve the request if the insurance company has not made their decision to get rid of high-cost clients
• policy holders would have the opportunity to comment on the request to the Insurance Department
• should a request be approved, policy holders would be able to still continue their coverage for an additional 18 months

The broader issue here – a lack of accountability on the part of big insurance companies – is a problem that all New Yorkers, and everyone in America faces.

Luckily, we’re getting closer to comprehensive health care reform on the federal level each day.

Here’s a video of the press conference announcing Ian’s Law. Citizen Action’s Pam Bennett was on hand to support the bill:

Here’s some of the recent national coverage on Ian’s Law: