Insurance denials pain for all

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090920/NEWS01/709209878

By Michael O'Connor
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Lung cancer, heart disease or stroke.

Suffer those or other serious health problems and you may be out of luck landing individual insurance when you need it most.

What about asthma or a bad knee? Might get covered for everything — except those conditions.

High blood pressure? You could find coverage but might pay more for it.

Those are potential problems facing people with pre-existing medical conditions.

But relief could be in the works. Key bills in Congress would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to people with such health problems.

Claims that there would be “death panels” and the hotly debated public option insurance plan have drawn more attention as Congress wrangles over health care.

More quietly, and backed by everyone from the president to the insurance industry, provisions on pre-existing conditions have found their way into the three main congressional bills.

FULL story at link.