RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events A right to Health Care

Health insurance under the current system is not always the rock-solid guarantee you think you're paying for.

Especially, it turns out, when you don't fill everything out just right.

In Beaton's case, the insurance company opened an investigation after her visit to a dermatologist and just before her scheduled breast cancer surgery, forcing postponement of her operation almost on the eve of it. The earlier problems on her enrollment form were discovered and her coverage was canceled.

To some lawmakers, that's outrageous enough -- never mind the acne story.
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In the spring of 2008, Beaton visited a dermatologist. "My face began to break out," she said. "All it was, truly, honestly, was pimples."

The doctor diagnosed mild rosacea, sometimes called adult acne, and seborrheic keratosis, a benign and common skin growth.

Beaton says the visit nevertheless raised a red flag because a notation in her records was misconstrued as meaning precancerous.

Beaton says she's convinced "the acne is what started everything," meaning the insurance company scrutiny. Because she'd had her insurance for months, the acne was not a pre-existing condition that could have imperiled her policy.

Whatever the case, her breast cancer diagnosis that quickly followed surely would have prompted a similar review of her files.

On the Friday before her cancer surgery, she was told her insurance company was opening the investigation and would not pay for her operation before that was concluded, she said. That suspended the surgery.

"They searched high and low for a reason to cancel me," she said.

The insurer retrieved records from a cardiologist pointing to her unreported heart condition. Then, in an Aug. 22, 2008, letter, the company listed four questions it said she answered inaccurately on her form and a fifth that was insufficiently addressed.

As a result, wrote the insurer, "your coverage is rescinded as of 12/04/07, the original effective date of your policy."
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