Meanwhile, some Blues plans and other insurers

Meanwhile, some Blues plans and other insurers have withdrawn from child-only coverage, citing issues with reform provisions related to pre-existing condition exclusions. The insurers said they no long would sell such policies as of Sept. 23, when they may no longer reject applicants up to age 19 based on pre-existing conditions. In Colorado, for example, WellPoint, Inc.'s Anthem unit and several other carriers, including Aetna Inc., CIGNA Corp., Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group's Golden Rule Insurance Co. subsidiary, said they would drop new sales of child-only policies while continuing to cover current child-only enrollees and to accept children with pre-existing conditions in new family policies. Insurers in several other states also reported that they would withdraw child-only products.
Under rules issued in June that take effect for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2010, insurers may no longer exclude pre-existing conditions from coverage for enrollees under the age of 19. In an effort to address concerns regarding adverse selection, HHS issued guidance July 27 authorizing insurers to restrict enrollment of children under age 19 "to specific open-enrollment periods," if permitted by state law. But the open-enrollment period must apply to healthy as well as sick children, while the insurers — and some state insurance commissioners, preferred to allow acceptance of healthy children year-round. HHS signaled that it would try to adjust open-enrollment periods to address the risk of adverse selection, but no deal had been reached by press time.