[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. STUPAK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased health care reform passed the 
House of Representatives and the Congress on March 21 so 32 million 
more Americans will have access to health insurance.
  Americans are already realizing the benefits of this legislation. For 
instance, for the past few years, as chairman of the Oversight and 
Investigations Subcommittee, we have investigated the industry practice 
of rescission. Rescission occurs when the insurance company pores 
through your policy application to find any excuse to drop you from 
coverage when you become ill. So when you need the insurance the most, 
they look for an excuse to abandon you. This rescission practice used 
by insurance companies employ up to 1,400 different computer entries to 
kick out claims of people who may become seriously ill, to drop them 
when they are sick, and will cost the insurance companies some money.
  As chair of Oversight and Investigations, I have written to the 
largest insurance companies to stop this practice of rescission now. 
Under the health care legislation we passed, it says rescission 
practice will stop in September, but I urge the insurance companies to 
stop this unconscionable practice now. In America health care is a 
right; it's not a privilege.

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