When the federal health law barred insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, some health insurers stopped writing child-only policies. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a California law that takes effect on Saturday:
The new state law, authored by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sept. 30, bars insurers that refuse to sell policies exclusively for children from the broader individual market for five years. It also limits the amount insurers can charge for covering children with serious health conditions to no more than twice what they would charge healthier children.
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Deborah Gustlin of Morgan Hill feels as if she finally has real health insurance for her 12-year-old son, Benjamin, who has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.
After an insurer rejected her son for coverage several years ago, Gustlin chose not to disclose his condition on a subsequent application - a risky move considering that his coverage could have been retroactively canceled if the insurer had discovered she lied about his pre-existing condition.
But Gustlin felt desperate. "I needed insurance in case he got sick or broke his arm," said Gustlin, a self-employed mother of two who runs an art studio.
Over the past four years since he was accepted for coverage, Gustlin has paid for all treatment related to his Asperger's on her own, a cost of more than $20,000.
Since the new federal provision went into effect, Gustlin had to take her son to the hospital for a change in his Asperger's medication. For the first time, she said, her insurer covered the bill.
