Kentucky, Maryland, Washington tell health insurers to resume selling children-only policies

Kentucky Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark has ordered health insurers to resume sales of child-only policies effective Jan. 1, saying their refusal to offer such policies violated state law in that it unfairly discriminated against some children. Top insurance regulators in Washington state and Maryland have taken similar steps to force health insurers to offer the policies.

The nation’s health insurers stopped selling new child-only plans in advance of the federal health reform law's Sept. 23 deadline requiring them to disregard pre-existing medical conditions on policies for children under the age of 19. Previously, insurers could refuse coverage for sick children.

Insurers have argued that companies that choose to offer the policies will have to assume the cost burden of covering a disproportionate share of sick children. Also, they argue, if a child cannot be turned down for coverage, some parents will delay buying coverage. For a story from The Courier-Journal of Louisville, click here.