Mark C. Willis

Health insurers have reportedly been shamed into early compliance with the new healthcare legislation:

Following this Reuter's story by Murray Waas on WellPoint's practices of targeting breast cancer patients for rescission, both WellPoint and UnitedHealthcare announced they would implement reforms immediately, instead of waiting until the new law kicks in.

Following that Murray Waas story, the administration and Congressional leaders asked WellPoint's CEO to urge her to end the practice. They sent a letter to the CEOs of the seven major insurance companies, "urging them to end rescissions and institute independent third-party review," according to the Murray Waas article. Yesterday afternoon, the industry as a whole agreed to do the same, according to a letter from AHIP's Karen Ignani to top House Democrats.