In a letter to the head of national insurer WellPoint, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urges an end to reports of dropping coverage for women with breast cancer.

Kathleen Sebelius

On April 21, Reuters ran a story highlighting the insurer’s practice of “specifically targeting” women diagnosed with breast cancer with the intent of canceling their policies.

In a statement to IFAwebnews.com, the Indianapolis-based company called the report “inaccurate and grossly misleading,” denying any targeting of clients and indicating it “works to prevent breast cancer, to detect it early and to get our members into treatment.

“We are deeply disappointed that these various allegations would be made without regard for the facts,” the statement said. “ We are proud of our record in improving care for women with breast cancer in this country.

In her letter to WellPoint Chief Executive Officer Angela Braly, Sebelius reminds the health insurer that the recently signed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will ban such rescissions beginning this fall.  The law does allow exclusions for blatant misrepresentations of fact by customers or fraud, however.

“WellPoint should not wait to end the unconscionable practice of deliberately working to deny health insurance coverage to women diagnosed with breast cancer,” the HHS secretary wrote. “I urge you to immediately cease these practices and abandon your efforts to rescind health insurance coverage from patients who need it most.”

Sebelius adds that she hopes WellPoint will consider the 192,000 American women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families “as you work to end this harmful practice.

WellPoint made several allegations of misinformation in the Reuters article, including misstating the role of “computer algorithms” it says is used to single out breast cancer patients as well as several inaccuracies regarding the practice of rescission.

The insurer contends that in 2009, less than one-tenth of 1% of its individual members’ policies were rescinded and that “the story is also wrong” in stating WellPoint lobbied aggressively to end proposed provisions requiring a third party review of company decisions to rescind a customer’s policy.

“WellPoint did not lobby against that issue,” the company’s statement said. “In fact, WellPoint was the first company in the industry to institute third party reviews back in 2008, a move that was cited at the time as a model for the industry.”

The company even disputes that the main patient featured in the article had her coverage dropped and, with a signed HIPAA waiver to release personal medical information, the insurer is willing to disclose the facts of her case.