N.Y. Insurance Dept. Fines HealthNow For Denying Claims From Women Seeking Infertility Treatment

The health insurance group HealthNow New York will be forced to pay more than $1 million for improperly denying claims from women who were infertile and seeking treatment and failing to give enough notice of rate increases, the Buffalo News reports (Epstein, Buffalo News, 7/21). The New York State Insurance Department announced that it had fined the company for denying the claim of an Ithaca, N.Y., woman and announced that the company must reprocess 2,500 similar claims from other women, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. According to state officials, state law requires that group insurance policies cover infertility treatment, with the exception of certain procedures such as in vitro fertilization. Eric Dinallo, superintendent of the state insurance department, said that insurance companies also are not permitted... [read full story]