Justice Done…Health Net ordered to pay $9 million after canceling cancer patient’s policy…

I posted THIS story back in November… HealthNet had canceled this woman’s policy in a real shady move… While I’m sure that the miserable wretches will appeal the case until the poor woman dies from her cancer… Maybe this will be incentive for people to fight the bastards!

patsy Bates

The punitive damage award is the first of its kind and has prompted the giant medical insurer to scrap practices that have recently come under fire.

Calling Woodland Hills-based Health Net’s actions “egregious,” Judge Sam Cianchetti, a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, ruled that the company broke state laws and acted in bad faith.

“Health Net was primarily concerned with and considered its own financial interests and gave little, if any, consideration and concern for the interests of the insured,” Cianchetti wrote in a 21-page ruling.

Patsy Bates, a 52-year-old grandmother, was at work at the Gardena hair salon she owns when her lawyer William Shernoff called with the news. Bates said she screamed and thanked the lawyer.

When Health Net dropped her in January 2004, Bates was stuck with more than $129,000 in medical bills and was forced to stop chemotherapy for several months until she found a charity to pay for it.

At the arbitration hearing, internal company documents were disclosed showing that Health Net had paid employee bonuses for meeting a cancellation quota and for the amount of money saved.

“It’s difficult to imagine a policy more reprehensible than tying bonuses to encourage the rescission of health insurance that keeps the public well and alive,” the judge wrote.

Health Net Chief Executive Jay Gellert ordered an immediate halt to cancellations and told The Times that the company would be changing its coverage applications and retraining its sales force.
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