Healthcare insurance companies continue to shock us with allegations of bad faith practices that leave their policyholders with mind-boggling debt and the public with increasing levels of distrust.

The latest

Health Net, Inc., a California based health care insurance carrier made news recently when an arbitration judge discovered that one of the company’s employees was given bonuses when she found ways to rescind policies after claims had been made – something that the law explicitly prohibits.

A California woman with breast cancer was about to undergo chemotherapy when Health Net rescinded her insurance policy claiming that she did not disclose that she had taken certain drugs and had a heart condition. She sued the company and ended up in arbitration where the judge came across the documents showing that Health Net was actively finding ways to rescind policies. In fact, the company allegedly rescinded 1600 policies and avoided paying over $35 million from 2000 to 2006 – leaving policyholders with no coverage at times when they needed it most. Although Health Net desperately tried to keep the documents from being released to the public, the judge decided otherwise.

Add it to the list

The degree of bad faith that Health Net is accused of will determined over the next several months. However, this scandal is just another to be added to the list. Other insurance companies, such as Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente and Mega Life have all been fined by insurance regulators – over and over again. Yet, the fines don’t seem to dissuade them from changing their ways.

Report cards don’t add up

In a recent press release, The California Office of the Patient Advocate, a California state agency, released a ‘report card’ on California’s insurance companies. Ironically, some of the grades for the most used insurance companies were extremely high – leaving consumers to wonder whether these grades are truly accurate. According to the study, Health Net, Blue Cross and Kaiser all received three out of four stars from their members and for meeting national standards. Yet, these insurance companies seem to be in the spotlight continually for doing whatever they can to not pay out benefits. It just doesn’t seem to add up…

If your insurance company wrongly rescinded your policy, they may have acted in bad faith. Consider contacting an attorney who understands how insurance companies operate. To contact an attorney whose practice focuses in this area of law, please click here.