Rep. Courtney: Hearing Proves Health Care Discrimination Exists and That it Must End

Press Release

Congressman Joe Courtney and Subcommittee Chairman Rob Andrews (NJ-01) were in Hartford today to accept testimony during an official Congressional hearing on Representative Courtney's legislation, H.R. 2833, the Preexisting Condition Exclusion Patient Protection Act of 2007.

Representative Rob Andrews (NJ-01) is the Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions.

"The unnecessarily unfair treatment of individuals suffering from chronic or debilitating conditions by the health insurance industry must end," stated Courtney. "Over one million Connecticut residents suffer from a chronic illness or a debilitating condition and they need our help. Congress should be in the business of finding solutions to fixing our nation's health care crisis, and I believe my legislation helps achieve that goal. I thank Subcommittee Chairman Andrews for his leadership and willingness to bring the committee to Connecticut, and to the witnesses who have provided their testimony here today."

Ten years ago, the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" (HIPAA) was signed into law in order to allow individuals to retain seamless coverage when changing health plans without being penalized for prior medical treatment or diagnosis. While this legislation offers some critical protections, it has become increasingly clear that HIPAA did not go far enough to protect those seeking to change or initiate new individual insurance policies.

Too often, health insurance companies would deny coverage for individuals with even the slightest mark on their medical history with the explanation that the preexisting or chronic condition excluded them from coverage.

Congressman Courtney formerly served as the Chairman of the Health Committee in the Connecticut General Assembly. As Chairman of the committee, Courtney helped draft the state portability law, which mirrored HIPAA. Over time, it has become clear that the private insurance market still discriminates against individuals with chronic or pre-existing conditions, making the promise of seamless coverage illusory. This bill will tighten the loopholes that a decade of experience has revealed.

HIPAA provides some protections for individuals enrolled in group coverage. This legislation goes further to extend HIPAA protections to the estimated 158 million individuals who are insured through employer-based private plans and non-group, individual plans. If a person changes his or her health plan due to employment status or for any other reason, they will only be subject to a three month pre-existing condition waiting period (as opposed to a 12 month period under current law) and the "look-back" period (how plans determine whether an individual has a preexisting condition) would only look-back 30 days as opposed to six months.

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