04-23-2021, 10:48 PM
Robert M wrote:
If an insurance provider in a different part of the country offers a package that is well-rounded and affordable, it’s not an option for me. Why? I live in NY and they are elsewhere and, for whatever reasons, can’t offer insurance to me. Doesn’t make sense in my mind.
I had insurance from a company incorporated in another state, but selling policies in my state. Then I needed to use my insurance for a hospital stay and surgery and found out after the fact that they didn't cover the surgery in my state.
All of the policy docs that I had access to said that they'd cover it. But they had secret documents filed with the state of Illinois that said they wouldn't cover my surgery.
When I complained to the attorney general's office in my state, they told me that I had no recourse because the company was regulated in Illinois.
I was on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars.
When I complained to the attorney general's office in Illinois they said that the paperwork filed in Illinois was clear and therefore exempted the company from prosecution for fraud. Somehow, I was legally obligated to know about the secret documents filed in Illinois that I had no access to until the attorney general's office sent me a copy.
Obamacare made this practice illegal. Insurance companies had to be registered with each state and subject to the laws/regulations of each state where they sold policies. Withholding plan documents in my state would have been unlawful if those rules were in place just a few years earlier.
(One of the first things 45 did was reverse this rule.)
So... I don't agree that insurance companies should sell health insurance across state lines. It's better that they don't.