UnitedHealth Group Inc. and insurers in Florida and Oklahoma stopped offering children-only health coverage because of the potential added costs of sick youngsters under the new U.S. health-care law, state officials said.<\/p>\n
UnitedHealth won\u2019t sell new policies that cover only children, foreclosing an option used by parents seeing cheaper care, Kevin McCarty, Florida\u2019s insurance commissioner, said today at a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in Washington, D.C. Tyler Mason, a UnitedHealth spokesman, disputed McCarty\u2019s statement in a telephone interview, saying the company is still issuing such coverage.<\/p>\n
The law championed by President Barack Obama bans insurers from denying coverage to children based on their health. That makes it more difficult for health plans to predict costs because families can wait until a child is sick to buy coverage, according to Kim Holland, Oklahoma\u2019s commissioner. She and Sandy Praeger, Kansas\u2019 commissioner, said insurers in their states have dropped child-only plans as well, or discussed the idea.<\/p>\n