Past Tense

Governor Schwarzenegger, of California, recently vetoed a health insurance bill that would protect consumers from dealing with canceled policies. The now dead bill would have forbade insurance companies from canceling coverage, had a policyholder made costly claims without an independent review.

The independent review process would allow insurers to cancel policies only if they could prove that customer intentionally lied about their health on their application, reported the Associated Press and the San Diego Union-Tribune.

the question was asked, why would Governor Shwarzenegger veto this bill that seems to protect consumers? The AP article cites that he did not approve it because the six provisions he wanted included, were not. The article also states that Shwarzenegger responded, “[The bill was] written by the attorneys that stand to benefit from its provisions.”

Critics of Governor Shwarzenegger are pointing fingers at his ‘flip-flopping” on his own insurance initiatives, by vetoing the bill. One lawmaker in CA revealed that some of the provisions the Governor wanted included were already in other bills.

“The governor’s veto betrays the promise he repeatedly made to Californians to protect them from insurance companies canceling their health insurance when they need it most,” said president of the California Medical Association, Dr. Richard Frankenstein. Something smells funny with this veto.