California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said new regulations designed to combat illegal rescissions will go into effect on August 18.

Having touted its early success in implementing some parts of new federal health reform law, officials now say a $250 rebate check to seniors who fall into the Medicare “doughnut hole” will be in the mail in the next two weeks.

The head of national health insurer WellPoint said she is “disappointed” that President Barack Obama, in his weekly address to the nation, cited a Reuters report alleging that the company specifically targets women with breast cancer for the practice of rescission.

With WellPoint’s announcement it will end the practice of rescission as of May 1, except in the case of fraud, national insurer UnitedHealthcare has taken the same stance, but made its prohibition effective immediately.

Under the national spotlight for alleged rescissions of patients with breast cancer, national health insurer WellPoint said it will implement reforms on the practice well ahead of a deadline set under recent health reform.

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.

About one-third of those people who tried to buy insurance on the private market were denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition over the last three years, a government analysis …  Read →