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- March 31st, 2010
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Insurance industry to comply with new pre-existing condition stipulation in health care bill
March 31st, 2010
By CBS News
In a letter Monday to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the industry’s top lobbyist says insurers will accept new regulations to dispel uncertainty over a much publicized guarantee that children with pre-existing medical problems can get coverage starting this year.
The president of America’s Health Insurance Plans said the industry will “fully comply” with the regulations, expected within weeks.
The law was signed last week, but the fine print was not clear on whether kids with health problems were guaranteed coverage starting this year, or if they might have to wait until 2014.
The bill says insurers “may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion” for children under 19 as of Sept. 23, 2010. Insurance companies say that just means if they choose to cover a child they have to cover the pre-existing condition and its costs, but they don’t actually have to offer new coverage to any child with pre-existing conditions until 2014.