“If you are looking for health insurance you have to read this article. Follow the link back to BusinessWeek Online. At the end of the article you are able to post comments. It is the comments of this article that are interesting. Don’t get me wrong, the article is good, it is just that the comments are great.”
–Bill
Lawsuits, State Probes — Let’s Buy It!
The idea was to relax. After 40 years in publishing, David and Darlene Henderson retired nine years ago to Penn Valley, Calif., a sleepy town 60 miles north of Sacramento. The couple signed up for health insurance through the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), a small-business group that offered them both coverage through MEGA Life & Health Insurance Co. for $416 per month. A brochure stated that the plan would provide up to $1 million in coverage.
Then in 2000, Darlene found a lump in her breast and had a mastectomy. The next year, David had emergency surgery for an aortic aneurysm, followed by three colon procedures. By April, 2001, their medical bills totaled more than $210,000. But for David and Darlene, both 66, the troubles were just beginning. MEGA refused to cover Darlene’s bills because, the company alleged, her breast cancer resulted from a preexisting condition she had failed to disclose. The Hendersons say they held back no such information. And MEGA’s benefits, which the Hendersons allege were poorly explained, covered only $33,169 of David’s $191,424 in bills. “You think you’re on a sunny sea,” says David. “Then you’re sucked into this Bermuda Triangle.” The couple has filed a lawsuit against NASE and MEGA’s parent company, UICI, based in North Richland Hills, Tex., charging fraud and unfair business practices. The company denies those allegations. (read the rest of this article…)