Governor Paterson Signs Groundbreaking Health Insurance Reforms

 

 

NEW YORK CITY – Today Governor Paterson signed Eric T. Schneiderman's groundbreaking legislation to protect patients from egregious insurance industry abuses at a ceremony at the Governor's office. “Ian’s Law” makes it illegal for insurers to drop entire lines of insurance as a pretext for denying coverage to individual policyholders who are sick.

 

The law’s inception came after Guardian Insurance had issued a policy to the family of 37-year old Ian Pearl, a New York native who suffers from muscular dystrophy and requires round the clock home nursing care. The annual costs of caring for Ian Pearl exceed $1 million. It would be illegal under New York State law for Guardian to drop the family's policy because Mr. Pearl needed care, so the company instead canceled the entire class of insurance policies in the state. 

 

Ian’s law does four main things:

 

·         Ian’s Law bans canceling a class of policies as a “pretext” for targeting an individual;

 

·         Ian’s Law requires insurance companies to continue providing necessary benefits to people with “serious medical conditions” if the company cancels a class of policies statewide;

 

·         Ian’s Law allows the government to stop any statewide class cancellation of a policy that discriminates against an individual consumer

 

·         Consumers are notified of their rights and can petition the insurance department to investigate whether a policyholders’ rights under Ian’s law have been violated. While the insurance department is investigating, coverage is continued.