California's Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims
PacifiCare's Denials 40%, Cigna’s 33% in First Half of 2009
More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured
patients, even when recommended by a patient's physician, are rejected
by California's largest private insurers, amounting to very real death
panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state, according to
data released Wednesday by the California Nurses Association/National
Nurses Organizing Committee.
CNA/NNOC researchers analyzed data reported by the insurers to the
California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009,
six of the largest insurers operating in California rejected 47.7
million claims for care -- 22 percent of all claims.
The data will be presented by Don DeMoro, director of CNA/NNOC's
research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, at
CNA/NNOC's biennial convention next Tuesday, Sept. 8 in San Francisco.
The convention will also feature a panel presentation from nurse
leaders in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia exploding the myths
about their national healthcare systems.