Health Insurers Deny 20% of Applicants Seeking Private Health Plans

Health insurers deny about 20% of applications from individuals seeking private health insurance coverage. The denial rate came from a review of data from 459 health insurers operating in the individual market on application denials from January through March 2010. During the three month period, more than 1.2 million applications were reported.These were the findings of a report, titled “Private Health Insurance: Data on Application and Coverage Denials,” by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In addition to reviewing application denials for the first quarter of 2010, GAO also reviewed a year or more of the available data from . . .