Editorial: Insurance firms incense Congress

Sunday, March 22, 1998 | 9:31 a.m.

The General Accounting Office announced last week it had discovered insurance companies were charging 140 percent to 600 percent of standard premiums for these policies. The GAO also found that companies were withholding commissions to agents selling these types of policies and waiting so long to reply that a customer was no longer eligible for protection under the law. A Health Insurance Association of America spokesman countered that most everyone taking advantage of the law is sick, while healthy customers are buying insurance more cheaply on the regular market.

But that isn't resonating with members of Congress. "I am outraged at the mockery that some insurance companies in some states are making of the law," Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., said. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., added this ominous warning: lower the premiums or a new bill "will sweep through the Congress." Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has introduced legislation that would cap the prices companies may charge for insurance. Maybe now the insurance companies will get the message.