“ When Karen Knee filled out an online application for health insurance four years ago, she scanned her address book and her memory.
She wrote down the names and numbers of her doctors and listed her recent health history — antidepressants after a death in the family, a normal Pap smear and a bladder infection.
She never thought to mention that her back sometimes felt sore after playing soccer or that she’d once taken pain pills after a muscle spasm.
“I’d never been a sick person,” said Knee, 47 of Newport Beach, Calif. “It’s not like I had diabetes and was trying to hide it. These little isolated things, we all have them. It doesn’t mean it’s a chronic thing.”
More than a year later, Knee had accumulated $30,000 in medical bills — the most expensive for removing benign cysts on her scalp. She then received a letter from Blue Cross informing her that the insurer had reviewed her medical records and found that she had not disclosed a pre-existing back condition. As a result, Blue Cross dropped her coverage retroactively and refunded her premiums.
She wrote down the names and numbers of her doctors and listed her recent health history — antidepressants after a death in the family, a normal Pap smear and a bladder infection.
She never thought to mention that her back sometimes felt sore after playing soccer or that she’d once taken pain pills after a muscle spasm.
“I’d never been a sick person,” said Knee, 47 of Newport Beach, Calif. “It’s not like I had diabetes and was trying to hide it. These little isolated things, we all have them. It doesn’t mean it’s a chronic thing.”
More than a year later, Knee had accumulated $30,000 in medical bills — the most expensive for removing benign cysts on her scalp. She then received a letter from Blue Cross informing her that the insurer had reviewed her medical records and found that she had not disclosed a pre-existing back condition. As a result, Blue Cross dropped her coverage retroactively and refunded her premiums.
