In a second round of public attacks on the insurance industry, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has asked WellPoint to stop dropping coverage for women with breast cancer.
Sebelius' request, made Friday, follows a Reuters news report that said the Indianapolis-based insurer "has specifically targeted women with breast cancer for aggressive investigation with the intent to cancel their policies."
The Affordable Care Act, passed in March, will ban such rescissions, except in cases of blatant misrepresentation or fraud, beginning this fall.
"WellPoint should not wait to end the unconscionable practice of deliberately working to deny health insurance coverage to women diagnosed with breast cancer," Sebelius wrote in a letter to WellPoint executives. "I urge you to immediately cease these practices and abandon your efforts to rescind health insurance coverage from patients who need it most."
Breast cancer is the second-leading type of cancer among women and will affect one in eight American women during their lifetime. This year alone, an estimated 192,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to Sebelius.
On Feb. 10, Sebelius asked Anthem Blue Cross to defend its 39 percent rate hike in California. Last month, at a White House meeting with the CEOs of the UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint, Aetna, the Healthcare Service Corporation and CIGNA HealthCare, she asked them to justify dramatic premium hikes.
"It's time for these insurance company CEOs to do their part to make the system more transparent for the American people," she said in a follow-up letter to the CEOs. "If insurance companies are going to raise rates, the least they can do is tell us why."
Earlier this year, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) demanded an explanation for Wellmark's double-digit rate hike in Iowa.
America's Health Insurance Plans had launched a nationwide campaign prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act warning that premiums would go up if the bill were passed.